Sussan Ley’s HUMILIATING Press Conference Gaffe: Awkward Moment Staffer Rushes to Drag Reporters Back as Opposition Leader is Forced to Walk Back Bizarre Climate Comments… and Albo Pounces!
- Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has been caught in a humiliating gaffe, accidentally declaring the Coalition doesn’t believe in climate targets ‘at all’.
- In an excruciatingly awkward moment, a staffer was forced to drag reporters back to the podium after Ms Ley had already walked away.
- A gleeful Anthony Albanese immediately pounced on the blunder, savaging the Coalition for changing its policies ‘from hour to hour’.
- The embarrassing clean-up comes as the government unveiled its own ‘fantasy’ 2035 climate target but REFUSED to promise it will lead to cheaper power bills.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has been forced to clean up an embarrassing and chaotic blunder after she accidentally told reporters the Coalition ‘don’t believe in setting targets at all’ in a fiery attack on the government’s new climate plan.
The humiliating gaffe unfolded during a press conference in Adelaide on Friday, where Ms Ley was savaging the Albanese government’s ambitious 2035 emissions reduction target as being ‘built on fantasy’.
After making the stunning declaration, Ms Ley and her team abruptly ended the press conference and walked away, only for a panicked staffer to rush back moments later and awkwardly call the media pack back.
‘Sorry, guys. Just one second. We’ve just got to add to that,’ the staffer said, forcing a red-faced Ms Ley to return to the podium to perform a humiliating walk-back.
‘What I meant to say was that I don’t support the targets that the government sets while we’re in opposition, so I misspoke,’ she awkwardly clarified. ‘We do, of course, recognise the importance of targets in government when we have the full information in front of us.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wasted no time in pouncing on the error, seizing on the moment to blast his opponent’s credibility.
‘It says it all, if the opposition aren’t clear from minute to minute, let alone in any considered way,’ a gleeful PM declared, labelling the comments ‘bizarre’ and claiming the Coalition ‘changes its policies from hour to hour’.
The political chaos comes as the government itself is under fire after both Mr Albanese and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen refused to promise their new target – a 62 to 70 per cent emissions cut by 2035 – would actually lower household power bills.
In a stunning reversal of a 2022 election pledge that promised a $275 power bill cut, the Prime Minister would only say ‘the modelling is out there’. Mr Bowen went further, tempering any hope for household savings by stating expert projections were ‘not a political promise’.
Experts from the Grattan Institute backed up the cautious messaging, saying the most likely outcome was that power prices would ‘broadly stay around a bit where they are now’.