How much does a loaf of bread, milk and a RAT test cost, Prime Minister? Scott Morrison has no idea

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has admitted he doesn’t know the cost of basic household items in responding to a journalist’s question at the National Press Club.

Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell asked Mr Morrison the classic ‘gotcha’ question about whether he knew the price of a loaf of bread, a liter of milk and a litre of petrol during the question-and-answer section of his address on Tuesday.

Mr Clennell added a topical item by asking Mr Morrison whether he also knew the price of a rapid antigen test.

‘I’m not going to pretend to you that I go out each day and I buy a loaf of bread and I buy a liter of milk,’ Mr Morrison responded, clearly not knowing the prices.

‘I’m not going to pretend to you that I do that. And I’ll leave those sort of things to you, mate. And you can run it.

‘But the point is that I do my job every day to ensure that those things are as affordable as they possibly can be for Australians every single day.’

The question is regularly asked of leaders during election campaigns but Mr Morrison appeared to be caught unawares by it.

The Q&A had got off to a rocky start when the club’s host, ABC journalist Laura Tingle, asked Mr Morrison if he would apologise for mistakes he’d made as prime minister.

Mr Morrison responded by listing three key errors, including falsely raising people’s hopes before this summer, not placing the vaccine rollout under military command from the start and poorly managing outbreaks in aged care.

‘We could have communicated more clearly about the risks and challenges that we still face,’ Mr Morrison said in reference to how he called for an end to restrictions before the Omicron wave in December.

‘In our communications, we have to be clear about that. We can’t lift people’s hopes, then disappointment them. I think that’s what happened over the break.’

‘Secondly, on the vaccination program, if I had my time over, I would have put it under a military operation from the outset and not later in the year,’ Mr Morrison said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison drives past vaccine mandate protesters at the National Press Club in Canberra

The Prime Minster also admitted that aged care outbreaks should have been handled better, mentioning one incident at St Basil’s home in Sydney when the staff had to isolate and the military had to be sent in.

‘The interface between the aged care sector and the public hospital system was blurred. And so, when the storms of Covid hit, that created some real challenges,’ he said.

After he completed his answer, Ms Tingle asked: ‘So you don’t have to say sorry about any of those things?’ and the Prime Minister replied: ‘I think I’ve explained my answer fairly fully.’

The Prime Minister also appeared stunned when Network 10 Political Editor Peter van Onselen read out text messages between Ms Berejiklian and a current Liberal minister that was critical of him

The Prime Minister also appeared stunned when Network 10 Political Editor Peter van Onselen read out text messages between Ms Berejiklian and a current Liberal minister he said he had obtained.

‘In one she described you as quote, “a horrible, horrible person” going on to say she did not trust you. And you’re more concerned with politics than people,’ Mr van Onselen said.

‘The minister is even more scathing, describing you as a fraud and quote “a complete psycho”.

Mr Morrison said he did not know who Mr van Onselen was referring to and in any case, did not agree with the sentiments.

Outside the club after the speech, Mr Morrison’s car battled through protestors in Canberra to oppose vaccine mandates.