Politics

Please Enjoy These Lovely Folks Yelling At Malcolm Turnbull Over Penalty Rates

Rough day for the PM.

by Max Koslowski  27 July 2018
Malcolm Turnbull Penalty Rates

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It’s the day before we find out the result of an extremely close Longman by-election, and PM Malcolm Turnbull is making a few last minute stops in the Queensland electorate to try and woo voters. But the smooth-talking PM hit a snag while talking to a group of cranky voters today.

“I got a friend that’s a student,” one woman starts telling Turnbull. “She goes to work and gets penalty rates to pay for her rent and her food so that she can go to uni.”

“You cut her penalty rates, she can’t do that!” She continued. “She’s going to be cut back on her rent and her food.”

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The woman, who is unnamed in the video, keeps going after the PM about penalty rates until she’s interrupted by one of her cranky male friends.

“You’re gonna steal the ABC!” he shouted. “Your council is now gonna sell it,” the man said, referring to the vote by the Liberal party Council that supported privatising the ABC.

In response, Turnbull said that “the ABC will be publicly owned forever.”

And he was going to say more — but he was interrupted again. This time, one of the voters went after the LNP Longman candidate, who was standing next to Turnbull.

“Ruthenberg, where’s your medal?”

“Yeah where’s your medal mate, you’re a Defence Force person,” another added.

It was revealed during the campaign that the Liberal party’s Trevor Ruthenberg had lied about which military service medals he had been awarded. “Big Trev”, as the prime minister calls him, claimed to have received a medal of distinguished service while on peacekeeping and non-war operations. He had actually been awarded a less prestigious medal.

The encounter ends with Turnbull saying it’s time for him to talk to some of the younger kids around him.

“Run away, mate, run away,” someone can be heard calling after him.

Check out the first part of the encounter here:

And watch the tail-end here: