Bill Shorten finally reveals WHY he horrified Australia with THAT sausage sandwich blunder

Ex-Labor leader Bill Shorten has set the record straight on election morning about his famous sausage sandwich blunder at the 2016 poll.

In an interview with the Today Show from his Melbourne electorate of Maribyrnong, Mr Shorten decided to address the ‘scandal’ when he was widely ridiculed after eating a sausage sandwich from the middle.   

‘Listen, I just want to clear up the great scandal of the 2016 election. The bread roll which I ate from the middle, you would have needed to have the jaws of, you know, a great white to eat it from the end. 

‘It would have done my dentures.’

I’m eating it in a way which is not setting Twitter alight with accusations,’ Mr Shorten said of the 2022 election sausage he ate this morning

Mr Shorten said he’d already had a sausage sandwich at Holy Rosary Primary School in Kensington with white bread, onion and sausage this morning which was ‘very good’.

‘[And] I’m eating it in a way which is not setting Twitter alight with accusations,’ he said, referring to the social media pile-on that followed his sausage sandwich blunder at Strathfield North Public School in Sydney’s inner-west,

‘I don’t want to eat unnecessary carbs,’ he added. 

Current Labor leader Anthony Albanese narrowly avoided a similar fate this election campaign when attacked the polling booth staple in Perth

In 2019, the then-Greens leader Richard Di Natale was photographed ‘attacking’ a sausage with gusto

Current Labor leader Anthony Albanese narrowly avoided a similar fate this election campaign when attacked the polling booth staple in Perth.

His awkward attempt was captured by a photographer but did not reach the viral heights of Mr Shorten’s effort. 

In 2019, the then-Greens leader Richard Di Natale was photographed ‘attacking’ a sausage with gusto – complete with toppings including mustard, onions and tomato sauce.

The image, from federal election day in Melbourne at St Kilda, became a hit online due to Di Natale’s clear enthusiasm for the snag – but he still lost his leadership role the following year.

In the UK, then Labour leader Ed Miliband was photographed in 2014 devouring a bacon sandwich when out buying flowers for his wife

In the UK, then Labour leader Ed Miliband was photographed in 2014 devouring a bacon sandwich when out buying flowers for his wife.

The image became legendary after it appeared on the front page of a national UK newspaper, destroying his credibility among the British public.

Miliband later resigned as Britain’s Labour Party leader after being defeated by Tory Prime Minister David Cameron in the general election.

London Evening Standard photographer Jeremy Selwyn snapped the now infamous images, and knew he had struck gold.