Anthony Albanese has snapped at a reporter when pressed about his election promise that power bills would come down by $275 this year.
When the reporter objected that Mr Albanese wasn’t answering the question put to him the Prime Minister cut him off.
‘I know that, but you get to do the questions and I get to do the answers,’ he said during the roadside press conference on Tuesday beside the Bruce Highway near the central east Queensland town of Rockhampton
‘That is the way it works.’
The reporter originally asked if it was time Mr Albanese conceded that his 2022 election promise ns would enjoy a $275 reduction in energy bill by this year wasn’t going to happen.
Mr Albanese instead of talking about a price drop from 2022 began listing the measures his government and other Labor state ones have taken to soften the relentless price hikes since that time.
‘One of the things that we did was have a $300 energy bill relief. The Queensland government under Steven Miles had $1000 additional to that’.
‘That was opposed by the Coalition,’ Mr Albanese said before the reporter interjected and got the curt reply.
After silencing the reporter Mr Albanese continued.
‘We have delivered that (energy bill relief),’ he said.
‘That was opposed. Energy prices would have been higher if Peter Dutton was in government.’
Mr Albanese was in Queensland to promote his government’s $7.2bn pledge to fix a 1700km stretch of the Bruce Highway, which has seen it dubbed one of ’s deadliest roads
He showed little patience with another reporter who on Monday asked if the “build back better” slogan used by the government in relation to the highway was taken from US President Joe Biden’s election campaign.
“You should be cautious about just reading out things that are sent from the LNP,” Mr Albanese replied.
The Albanese government on Monday pledged $7.2bn to upgrade the 1700km stretch of highway dubbed one of ’s deadliest roads.
Mr Albanese is embarking on a pre-election multistate blitz, set to appear in Queensland, Western n and the Northern Territory in the upcoming week as well as a string of morning show appearances.
More to come