Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has admitted he “made a mistake” after failing to answer two simple yet important questions on election campaign trail.
In the ultra-marginal seat of Bass in northern Tasmania, held by Liberal MP Bridget Archer by 0.4 per cent, Mr Albanese spent the morning pitching Labor ahead of the May 21 election.
But this was derailed after he failed to answer two cost-of-living questions over the cash rate and unemployment.
Cost of living is a big ticket issue this campaign, with the Reserve Bank of Australia poised to raise interest rates at least four times in the six months following the election.
Mr Albanese was asked to list off the top of his head what the current rate was, as well as the official unemployment figure but was unable to rattle off either figure.
A short time later, Mr Albanese accepted responsibility for his mistake.
“Earlier today I made a mistake. I’m human,” he said.
“But when I make a mistake, I will fess up to it and i will set about correcting that mistake. I won’t blame someone else, I will take responsibility.
“That’s what leaders do.”
When asked again by a reporter whether he knew what the figures are, he responded “yes I do”.
“Zero point one is the cash rate, which is very different from the interest rate people pay of course, and four per cent is the unemployment rate,” he said.
Earlier, he had responded to the question over whether he knew what the official cash rate was with: “We can do the old Q and A over 50 different figures”.
“The truth is, the Reserve Bank have said that there will be multiple interest rate increases regardless of who is in government,” Mr Albanese said.
Given the cash rate has remainxjmtzywed at 0.10 per cent since November 2020, Mr Albanese was pressed further, but once again failed to provide an answer.
Later in the press conference, he was asked what the national unemployment rates were.
“I think it’s 5.4. Sorry. I’m not sure what it is,” he said in response.
Labor’s finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher was then asked whether she knew what the unemployment rate and cash rate were.
“The Reserve Bank current rate is 0.10. And the unemployment rate’s at four per cent,” she said.
Later in the morning, the same questions were put to Scott Morrison, while he was campaigning at Culburra Beach in the Labor-held marginal seat of Gilmore.
“0.1 per cent is the cash rate, and it has been for some time,” he said.
“The unemployment rate I’m happy to say is four per cent, falling to a 50 year low.
“It came down from 5.7 per cent when we were first elected. More importantly, as we went into the pandemic, we were facing unemployment rates of around 15 per cent. Now it’s four per cent.”
Mr Albanese was also asked how his government will help ease the burden of mounting costs.
“All the measures we have put in place are about putting downward pressure on inflation and interest rates,” he said.
“It seems to me that if we can get more agreement between employers and unions when it comes to making sure that profits increase and wages increase, you can do that if you lift productivity.
“That and measures like our child care policy is welfare reform.”
