Nova 91.9’s Ben and Liam phoned prime minister Scott Morrison when they were on the air this morning. From the Australian economy to The Masked Singer, Morrison answered all the hard hitting questions.
Covid-19
At the beginning of their live chat, Ben stated the obvious on how rough 2020 has been for Australia with the raging bushfires and global pandemic – just to name a few disasters.
Being put through the ringer in perhaps our nation’s least favourite year of all time, Morrison replied: “I’m concerned for those who are doing it the most tough… particularly those down in Melbourne and those out there in regional Victoria… it’s incredibly tough for them. They’re getting through it… If you’ve got some friends in Melbourne, they’re half way through the lockdown, give them a call and cheer them up.”
Centrelink
Liam then jumps in and says Job Keeper and Job Seeker can’t go on forever and how there’s redundancies all over the country and people are worried about their jobs and where they’re going to be this time next year. He asked the question: “How much worse do you think our economy is going to get?”
Morrison replied: “We’ll still see unemployment, we’ll continue to remain high for quite a while… with South Australia, in particular, what’s good is the virus there is pretty under control. And it’s important to open up the economy… we’ve got to get things moving again and get people back into work and that is all achievable so long as we keep the virus under control by practicing civid-safe behaviours.”
Christ Church
Ben mentions one of the biggest news stories: New Zealand wants to send back the Christ Church shooter to serve his life sentence. Ben asked Morrison for his thoughts on this.
Morrison said: “We’re very sensitive to this and I spoke to the NZ prime minister yesterday – we speak quite often. I’m pleased he’s got this sentence. He should never see the light of day again – he’s just despicable. And it’s not normally done – I mean, there are a lot of New Zealanders in Australian prisons at the moment as well… We’re very sensitive to this.”
He then mentioned how he’s met a number of families who were in the building when the terrorist was attacking and how both he and NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern want to be sure that whatever they do, they put the interests and views of the families first.
NRLt
Liam says he knows our prime minister is a big NRL fan. With the AFL grand final not taking place at the MCG this year, Liam asks Morrison if he would like to see it happen at Adelaide oval?
“I’ll let them make their pitches,” said Morrison, with Liam and Ben laughing in response. “…The South Australians want it, the Queenslanders want it, I’m sure NSW would want to put a pitch in it if they could. Look, it’s the great national game – you’re right, I’m a big NRL guy… when I go, I enjoy it just like anyone else…. Wherever it’s played it’s going to be fantastic… It will be different this year… but that’s just living with Covid.”
Taylor Swift
The last time the boys saw Morrison, he was at a ‘T-Swift’ concert with his daughters ‘shaking it up’. Ben and Liam ask Morrison on air if he’s a big Taylor Swift fan.
“I think she’s a great performer. I’ve been to a few of the concerts with the girls and I just think she puts on an amazing show. I like that she has a positive message to young girls.”
“I don’t see you at a Cardi B concert anytime soon,” said Liam, where the PM laughed in response “no, I don’t think that’s going to happen”.
The listeners’ questions
Q: Do you think you can beat Kevin Rudd in handball?
A: I’m not going to challenge him because he’d have the contract signed in half a minute!
Q: Do you own your own pair of lucky socks and jocks?
A: No, I don’t.
Q: You post a lot of pictures of dinners, what’s for dinner tonight?
A: BBQ tonight!
Q: Who’s your AFL team if you had to pick one?
A: I used to like the Western Bulldogs or the Swans, but I don’t actually have one.
Q: Who is the kitten in The Masked Singer?
A: No idea!
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