Election 2022: Outrage over Anthony Albanese's press conference act
Anthony Albanese shocked reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday after walking out of a press conference just eight minutes in, already breaking an early promise he'd made.
The Opposition Leader swore he'd answer every question thrown his way because he's "not Scott Morrison", but he appeared to break that promise just three days into his election campaign.
"I’m not Scott Morrison, I don’t run away from press conferences. Do it in order,” Mr Albanese told the press on Monday.
And while fronting the press on Wednesday soon after attending a Medicare rally in Melbourne, Mr Albanese was expected to face some challenging questions. But instead, he walked out.
After speaking for a brief two minutes, and taking questions for a further six, he abruptly departed, leaving reporters yelling after him.
Sky News Political Reporter Jonathan Lea said Mr Albanese was presented with some "tough questions", but he didn't stick around to answer them.
"Having pledged to take all questions, Anthony Albanese pulled the ripcord after 8min today, facing tough questions about his claimed experience, how he could pay for his health policy, ditching a rise to the dole, and a potential Labor greens alliance," Mr Lea tweeted.
His exit appeared to come amid questioning over Labor’s dumped plans to review the JobSeeker rate.
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"You still haven’t answered those JobSeeker questions,” one reporter can be heard yelling.
"So you’re not taking those questions now Mr Albanese?" another asked as the Labour leader left.
Outrage after abrupt walk-out
Mr Albanese's sudden departure left reporters shocked with many highlighting the bad move on Twitter.
"Anthony Albanese has broken his campaign promise to answer all questions from travelling media, ending today’s presser after just 8 minutes & fuelling reports of a tactics shift. We were asking why Labor won’t commit to raising the Jobseeker rate if elected," 10News Political Journalist Stela Todorovic said.
Meanwhile, Political Producer at Sky News Cam Reddin addressed Mr Albanese's "very short answers" during the media briefing.
"A glaring shift from the 'everyone gets a question' approach of the campaign so far," he wrote.
The day three mishap comes as Mr Albanese stumbled on a seemingly simple question at the start of the campaign while touring Tasmania on Monday.
Mr Albanese was asked if he was aware of the current unemployment rate, but he appeared to not know the answer.
"The national unemployment rate at the moment is … I think it’s 5.4," Mr Albanese replied before conceding he did not know the answer.
"Sorry. I’m not sure what it is," he said.
Australia's unemployment rate is 4 per cent.
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