Thread by @iMusing

stump speech. He is angry about reporting of facts on the ground - in legacy media and on social media.

re-set comms, because polling results, which - unlike people dying - tend to focus the Morrison mind.

his government will “ensure our conomy can push through”.

the feds will be “rebating” student (6 weeks) and backpacker (12 weeks) visa application fees from today and give $3 million to Tourism Australia for a marketing campaign.

wrapping up now. Challenges. Balance sheets of our businesses. Confidence. Resilience. Hands off to Frydenberg, who opens with the usual false and self-serving claims about foreseeability.

bounced back. Resilient. Frydenberg is doing that plodding slogan emphasis thing that makes his campaign speeches - like the federal budget - so embarrassing and uninspiring.

confidence again. Of all the economic variables that are astrology for white guys, confidence is the front runner.

shout out to a trucking business and to the assistant treasurer, a man who - like the rest of the Morrison ministry - deliberately spreads misinformation about the legal right to shut down unsafe workplaces.

journo mistakes a Frydenberg pause for the end of his second fiddle performance lol

Q: is it not a reflection on your leadership that you didn’t get these [RAT] tests into the country when they were needed and what about George Christensen.

states and territories, says Morrison. He claims that in June or August we were in delta and again falsely asserts that the exact configuration of a predicted and predictable variant is a whole new thing.

constant and increasingly heavy reliance on vague and selective overseas comparisons here.

do not listen to George Christensen, says Morrison. “Australians shouldn’t be listening to him”. No word on why the Morrison government should and does accept his vote.

asked why he did not order RATs in December, we get more “other countries” guff. The private market did not have a crystal ball, says Morrison. His point is [imprecise and contested claims about two particular characteristics of the omicron covid variant].

the supply lag is a function of [specific variant characteristics], says Morrison, more than two years into a global pandemic.

almost as tho markets and the Morrison government are as bad at public health as each other.

is George Christensen taking you for a ride? He is not a candidate at the next election, says Morrison. He is not paying attention to George, Morrison says, a lie. Defaults to the daughters, a tell.

set and forget. Drink. Speculation about a future omicron peak. Drink.

closed schools and closed child care centres, says Frydenberg, not about child safety of course but in the context of isolating workers and peaks.

on schools and the labour force, Morrison does another flick to states and territories.

sounds like the wrap dixer. Somebody invites Morrison to emote about the missing girl in the Blue Mountains and about Tonga.

thoughts and prayers. Pacific family. Faith community. So so so cynical.

“redirection of” or “impounded” private sector RAT supplies: Morrison says these stories float around on social media and get reported! The actual claim is that suppliers are filling bulk Commonwealth RAT orders ahead of smaller, confirmed and paid for orders.

people who did foresee RAT demand had their orders postponed after the Morrison government - which did not foresee demand, according to the PM - belatedly made huge orders.

the missing child update exit Q is one of the most cynical things I have ever seen in political comms.