Waleed Aly reveals MOMENT he realised ‘Scott Morrison was in trouble’ over Gladys texts

Waleed Aly has revealed Scott Morrison’s National Press Club address on Tuesday was the moment he realised the Prime Minister could be in serious trouble in the upcoming Federal election. 

Mr Morrison fronted the press gallery hoping to reset his campaign and turn around recent polling which has placed him 12 points, behind Labor but instead found himself fielding an onslaught of pointed questioning.

The most incendiary of which was from Network 10 political editor Peter van Onselen, who read the PM text messages he alleged were between former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and a senior Liberal figure in which Mr Morrison was called a ‘horrible person’ and a ‘complete psycho’. 

‘I think what’s significant about it, though, beyond that particular exchange, is just the tone of that Press Club address,’ Aly said. 

‘It was extraordinary to see this kind of… coordinated is not the right word but almost this consensus across the press gallery that they were going to go for it.

10 News journalist Peter van Onselen (pictured) confronted the PM with the series of incendiary text messages allegedly sent between former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and an unnamed cabinet minister

‘It doesn’t happen unless a Prime Minister is in real trouble. 

‘I think maybe this was the day the press gallery called the election and said: “You are not going to win this, we think you’re going”.

‘It doesn’t mean they’ll be right, by the way, they probably thought that in 2019.’ 

Asked if he thought the PM had any idea what he was walking into, Aly said to him the Prime Minister looked genuinely surprised.

‘I don’t think he walked in that room expecting that to happen. That would be my guess.

‘It’s just a guess, but either way I think it is a really significant moment. I feel like something big has happened there.’

Waleed Aly (pictured with Carrie Bickmore) said the PM’s Press Club address is a clear indication the Mr Morrison in in trouble before the federal election

Co-host Kate Langbroek added that to her Mr Morrison appeared to be hurt by the text messages. 

‘Politicians have got thicker skins than most other people but wouldn’t you be devastated if someone said that to you in a room full of people?’ she said.

Mr van Onselen told the PM as he answered questions from the reporters after his speech that he had acquired the private texts and he had them ‘right here’, as he proceeded to read them.

‘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.’ he said. 

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

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) said he ‘obviously does not agree’ after he was branded a ‘psycho’ and a ‘horrible person’ in bombshell text exchanges allegedly involving former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian

The Ten Network also claimed some texts between the pair occurred during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20.

In another message sent by the premier shortly after Mr Morrison’s holiday to Hawaii during the bushfire crisis, Ms Berejiklian said she was ‘so disappointed’.

In response the prime minister blinked rapidly before he said: ‘Well, I don’t know who you’re referring to, or the basis of what (has been) put to me.

‘But I obviously don’t agree with it, and I don’t think that is my record.’

In a statement later on Tuesday, Ms Berejiklian said she had no recollection of the text exchange taking place.

‘Let me reiterate my very strong support for Prime Minister Morrison and all he is doing for our nation during these very challenging times,’ she said.

‘I also strongly believe he is the best person to lead our nation for years to come.’

Co-host Kate Langbroek (pictured with Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore and Peter Hellier) added that to her Mr Morrison appeared to be hurt by the text messages

A mock-up of what the text exchange between Ms Berejiklian and the minister may have looked like

The scathing texts follow the PM trying unsuccessfully to persuade the former Premier to run for Federal Parliament in Tony Abbott’s former seat in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Van Onselen said Ms Berejiklian was ‘a close friend’ of the PM and added: ‘That’s somebody that you wanted to run actually at the next election.’

Mr Morrison was also asked after his speech if he would like to apologise for mistakes he has made while in office.

‘Do you want to take this opportunity to actually say sorry for the mistakes you’ve made as prime minister?,’ asked host Laura Tingle.

‘Not just about Covid – everything from going to Hawaii during the bushfires through to not having enough rapid antigen tests.’

The scathing texts follow the PM trying unsuccessfully to persuade the former Premier to run for Federal Parliament in Tony Abbott’s former seat in Sydney’s Northern Beaches (pictured here with the PM) 

The Prime Minister did not apologise but did list what he considers to be his three biggest missteps in office. 

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

He said secondly that he would have put the country’s vaccine rollout under the charge of the military from the outset rather than waiting until late 2021.

‘I took the decision to send in General Frewen and change the way we did it, and set up a change in the command structure, how logistics were managed, how it was planned. And it worked. But I wish we’d done that earlier. And that’s a lesson,’ Mr Morrison said. 

Scott Morrison took the stage at the National Press Club under huge pressure after the latest Newspoll put him 12 points behind Labor

In mid-2021 the federal government copped heavy criticism for the slow vaccine rollout which was well behind comparable nations and meant Sydney and Melbourne had to be plunged into four-month lockdowns amid Delta outbreaks. 

Thirdly he said his management of outbreaks in the aged care sector could have been handled better. 

‘Whether patients could be moved and how and when from aged care facilities into hospital facilities, private and public… could have been done better, between both the states and ourselves,’ he said.

Mr Morrison’s speech about health and economic resilience came after a disastrous Newspoll put Labor on track to comfortably win the next election.

The Opposition is ahead 56-44 on a two-party-preferred basis in the Coalition’s worst polling performance since September 2018, a month after Malcolm Turnbull was replaced.

The 12-point lead puts Labor on track to win up to 25 seats from the Coalition and represents a 6-point lead increase from the last poll on December 6 when it was ahead 53-47.

Mr Morrison dismissed the results and claimed they do no accurately represent how people will actually vote at the ballot box.  

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