Poll fail! SCOMO takes major hit following bushfire crisis
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suffered a major hit in the polls while admitting he could have “handled things on the ground much better” after taking a trip to Hawaii with his wife and two children in the middle of the devastating bushfires that have plagued the nation over the last few months.
Mr Morrison fronted the media after weeks of dodging criticism, telling ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday that he could have done things “much better”.
It is the first time since the federal election in 2018 that the Labor party has been ahead of the Coalition and Mr Morrison’s approval rating has plunged, according to a Newspoll.
Labor is in front 51-49 on a two-party-preferred basis in the poll conducted for The Australian. This is a considerable turnaround from the last Newspoll in early December when the Coalition led 52-48.
The Coalition’s primary vote has dropped two points to 40 per cent, while Labor’s has increased from 33 to 36 per cent since early December.
Mr Morrison’s own approval rating has taken a nose dive in the latest poll.
Approval for Mr Morrison tumbled from 45 to 37 per cent, while Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s rating has jumped from 40 to 46 per cent.
Today host Karl Stefanovic asked Treasurer Josh Frydenberg: “Are you worried?”
Mr Frydenberg responded: “We are absolutely just focused on the response and the recovery to this national crisis and as you indicated, Karl, today we are making a significant and initial contribution of $50 million to respond to the ecological disaster that we have seen across many states.
“Our focus is on the Australian people. We have heard the message, loud and clear, that when it comes to these national disasters they want the Federal Government to be playing a very district role.”
Stefanovic replied: “But Treasurer, the polls are also a sign that people were not happy with the way he handled thing, at least initially. So that has to be a concern for you?
“Well, you saw the Prime Minister yesterday in the better view make the point that if he had known know what he knew then he had known know what he knew then he would have done some different things,” Mr Frydenberg said in regards to the PM’s comments to the ABC on Sunday.
Speaking on Today, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the poll result did not come as a surprise.
“It doesn’t surprise me because as I move around the country people are telling me they are very disappointed with Scott Morrison since the election. So they are not really happy with him,” she said.
Mr Albanese has overtaken Mr Morrison as preferred prime minister and leads the Liberal leader 43 to 39 per cent, according to the survey of 1505 voters conducted from January 8-11.
Mr Morrison has admitted he could have handled the happenings of Australia’s current crisis in a much better way.
“There are things I could have handled on the ground much better,” Mr Morrison told ABC TV on Sunday.
“These are sensitive, emotional environments.
“Prime ministers are flesh and blood too in how they engage with these people.”
Mr Morrison admitted he would not have taken his family for a holiday to Hawaii, although he had been defensive about it in a radio interview at the time.
He said his original intention was to holiday, as was routine for his family, on the NSW south coast.
Mr Morrison also discussed climate change as being a driver of the already devastating bushfires, saying the government’s emissions targets need to “evolve” as the summer seasons become longer, hotter and drier.
Australia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, under the Paris Agreement. However, the prime minister has faced criticism for lacking ambition to cut Australia’s emissions.
“It is my intention to meet and beat that target,” Mr Morrison told reporters on Sunday.
“We are going to continue to evolve our policy in this area to reduce emissions even further and we are going to do it without a carbon tax, without putting up electricity prices and without shutting down traditional industries,” he added in an ABC TV interview.
Asked whether he was open to moving the existing target, he said: “What I’m saying is ‘we want to reduce emissions and do the best job we possibly can and get better and better and better at it’”.
Mr Morrison said some within coalition ranks felt climate change had nothing to do with the bushfires. But reaffirmed it was the government’s “uncontested” advice and position that climate change was impacting summer seasons.
Mr Morrison went on to say the impact of climate change would be one of the issues explored and discussed by the royal commission into the bushfires.