By Charlie Moore, Political Correspondent for Daily Mail Australia
In a fiery response to Labor’s ad campaign, the Liberals have fired back with a new advertisement targeting Labor’s tactic. The original ad features Scott Morrison repeating the phrase ‘that’s not my job’ on three occasions.
Labor’s television and radio spots, which are touted as one of the most compelling aspects of their election strategy, criticize the Prime Minister for what they describe as a pattern of errors and excuses over the past three-year term.
However, the Liberals counter that the excerpts showcased were stripped of their original contexts and cleverly spliced together for a more theatrical impact.
Outraged by what they consider to be an unfair portrayal, the Liberals have unleashed their own ad, which was exclusively previewed by Daily Mail Australia, to articulate their stance on the perceived misrepresentation.
The first clip showing Mr Morrison saying ‘that’s not my job’ is from a Today show interview with Karl Stefanovic and Alison Langdon on August 19, 2020.
Stefanovic asked: ‘Why haven’t you personally lost patience with Dan Andrews’ and the PM replied: ‘Because that’s not my job.’
Mr Morrison says the response was not an excuse but an explanation of why he was not criticising the Victoria premier over the state’s huge Covid outbreak.
The second clip is from a press conference in Queensland on October 11, 2020.
The Prime Minister was defending his policy allowing Aussies to access their superannuation early when he said: ‘ I’m not going to go around telling Australians how to spend their own money, that’s not my job.’
In the third clip, the Prime Minister was being interviewed by Tara Brown on 60 Minutes on March 22, 2020.
Asked if he was frightened by the pandemic, he replied: ‘It’s not my job to do that’.
Coalition campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham claimed Labor has been ‘caught out lying to the Australian public’ by falsely implying the PM was making excuses for mistakes.
The advert, released on April 21, slammed Mr Morrison for his Hawaii holiday during the 2019 bushfires and blamed him for the slow Covid vaccine rollout and rapid test shortage.
Asked if the commercial was frustrating, Mr Morrison told Ray Hadley on radio 2GB on Tuesday: ‘Well, yes.
In the third clip the Prime Minister was being interviewed by Tara Brown on 60 Minutes on March 22, 2020.
‘I mean, the three quotes they’re using. I was asked, should I be afraid of the pandemic? No, no, that isn’t my job to be afraid of the pandemic.
‘Is it, is it my job to shout down the phone at a state premier while you’re trying to manage a pandemic?
‘No, I don’t think that’s a smart idea when we’re all trying to work together and get through the pandemic.’
He added: ‘This is what Labor does, they don’t have a plan for government.’
A Labor spokesman said: ‘We make no apologies for highlighting the Prime Minister’s record because Australians know Scott Morrison has a problem with taking responsibility.
‘It’s a fact that Scott Morrison failed Australians when it came to quarantine, the vaccine rollout and ordering enough RATs.
‘Scott Morrison is more interested in spinning a story to make himself look good than taking responsibility for his failures that have cost Australians throughout this pandemic.’
Labor’s advert is remarkably similar to a TikTok video uploaded in February featuring Mr Morrison repeatedly saying ‘that’s not my job.’