Malcolm Turnbull has revealed why he controversially ate a meat pie with a knife and fork during the Braddon by-election campaign in Tasmania last week.
In a statement issued to The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said: ‘The PM mostly prefers to keep his hands out of his food. In truth, the reason he was using a knife and fork is because the pie was scorching hot.’
However, radio host Kyle Sandilands did not accept the excuse and claimed a ‘real Australian’ would have eaten the pie with their hands regardless of its temperature.
Mystery solved! The reason why Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ate a meat pie with a knife and fork has finally been revealed. Pictured: Malcolm Turnbull at Oliver’s Bakery and Cafe in Ulverstone, Tasmania last week during the Braddon by-election campaign
Sandilands said: ‘A real Australian will bite into the that pie, scorching hot or not, risking our taste buds being burnt to a crisp, while juggling [it] from left hand to right hand – we all do that.’
Meanwhile, on Wednesday’s Kyle and Jackie O Show, Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten clarified that he personally prefers to eat pies with his hands.
Turnbull left voters unimpressed last week when he shared a photo to Instagram of himself tucking into a meat pie at the seaside town of Ulverstone.
Meat pies like the one Mr Turnbull cut up, bought from bakeries and petrol stations, are made to be eaten with your hands without the need for cutlery.
Revealed! In a statement issued to The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said: ‘The PM mostly prefers to keep his hands out of his food. In truth, the reason he was using a knife and fork is because the pie was scorching hot’. Pictured: Radio hosts Kyle Sandilands (left) and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson (right)
‘Wrong, wrong, wrong!’ Turnbull left voters unimpressed last week when he shared a photo to Instagram of himself tucking into a meat pie at the seaside town of Ulverstone. Pictured: Voters responding to the meat pie photo on Twitter last week
Twitter users compared his technique to that of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard who was photographed years ago using her hands to eat one.
‘It is just wrong! Is that man really an Australian? Is he really a man?’ read one furious tweet.
Another critic likened eating a pie with a knife and fork to putting caramel into coffee. ‘Wrong, wrong, wrong,’ they said.
‘One hundred times better’: Twitter users even compared his technique to that of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard who was photographed years ago (above) using her hands to eat one
Déjà vu: The photo of Mr Turnbull’s at Oliver’s Bakery and Cafe also saw him compared to George Costanza, who used a knife and fork to eat a Snickers bar in a 1994 episode (pictured)
The photo of Mr Turnbull’s at Oliver’s Bakery and Cafe also saw him compared to George Costanza, who used a knife and fork to eat a Snickers bar in a 1994 episode.
The Prime Minister isn’t the only political leader to have used a knife and fork in questionable circumstances.
Donald Trump deployed cutlery to eat KFC in August 2016 while he was campaigning to become the President of the United States.
Bizarre: The Prime Minister isn’t the only political leader to have used a knife and fork in questionable circumstances. Donald Trump (pictured) deployed cutlery to eat KFC in August 2016 while he was campaigning to become the President of the United States