Scott Morrison has endured another train-wreck interview with a talkback radio host – this time with Ben Fordham, who accused the treasurer of having a “glass jaw”.



Morrison, so often the darling of conservative radio stations, found himself at the centre of vigorous questioning over his approval of the sale of a Tasmanian dairy business to a Chinese-owned company.

But it was when the host needled Morrison over his no-show for his 2GB stablemate Ray Hadley on Monday morning that the fireworks really began.

Morrison explained he had been at his desk “meeting with treasury officials, putting the budget together and working on taxation issues” but would be back for his regular spot with Hadley next week.

Was there any truth to the rumour, Fordham wondered, that Morrison had been hiding under his desk? Was he ducking from responding to difficult issues such as the deadlocked Newspoll result?

“That’s crap, Ben, and I think that’s a bit cheap,” Morrison fired back.



The treasurer protested he had “fronted up to every interview for years and years and years” but had to attend a Coalition party room meeting ahead of the introduction of legislation in the lower house for Senate voting reforms.

Fordham: “Don’t get sensitive. Don’t get sensitive. I’m just asking the question. And I think considering that 2GB listeners in particular would be used to you turning up on a Monday morning, they’d be intrigued by this as well. I’m just poking and trying to find out the story.”



Morrison: “Ben, You’re insinuating. I don’t appreciate it. I’ve always been upfront with your listeners on every single program, I explain my decisions, people know what I stand for and I’ve always sought to be very clear with them. That’s why I’ve come on your program this afternoon. If you don’t like the decision I’ve made on this one, you’re entitled to that. Everyone who has a view on that is also totally entitled to that and I respect that but governments have to make decisions.”

Fordham: “As you know I’ve always said no matter how hard people shake, Scott Morrison tends not to fall out of the tree, so I just get a little sense that you’re a little bit glass jaw about my very mild criticism in the last few minutes.”

Morrison: “No, Ben, mate, I thought it was a bit cheap.”

The exchange capped a tough week for the treasurer, who came under pressure over a National Press Club speech on Wednesday that lacked policy detail. In it, he signalled the Coalition could afford only “modest” income tax cuts after the decision to rule out an increase in the goods and services tax.

As Morrison embarked on a media blitz on to sell his fiscal credentials, he was ridiculed for suggesting Labor’s negative-gearing savings were a “unicorn”. He would not sell the Australian public the mythical creature, he assured people on Thursday.

The 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones was so unimpressed with Morrison’s reliance on “cliches and slogans” that he opened an interview by asking him to explain “what on earth” he meant to say in the speech.

On Friday the 3AW host Neil Mitchell confronted Morrison over “that bloody vision that was promised five months ago and still hasn’t appeared”.

Then, on Monday, Hadley told listeners the treasurer had skipped his regular spot on the morning show, which spared him from questions about his “inglorious” speech, which was loaded up with “a whole lot of gobbledygook”.

Which brings us to Tuesday – and Morrison’s decision to approve the sale of the land and assets of the Tasmanian Land Company, including the Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) Company, which owns and operates 25 dairy farms.

The buyer is Moon Lake Investments, which is owned by the Chinese businessman Lu Xianfeng. Fordham suggested the Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron, who was part of a previous $250m bid by TasFoods, had recently pledged to match the Moon Lake offer. This would have given a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to put the business in Australian hands and safeguard food security.

Morrison defended his handling of the issue. He said VDL – currently held by a New Zealand business – had been foreign owned since the 1800s. The company had run a sale process that involved a number of Australian bidders, including TasFoods, which was outbid by Moon Lake’s $285m offer, the treasurer said.



Moon Lake had guaranteed all current VDL employees they would keep their jobs on no less favourable terms and it had also committed to increase investment in the farms, Morrison said. It had also provided an assurance that there would not be an impact on the supply of milk in Australia.



“I’m not going to apologise for keeping people in jobs in Tasmania,” Morrison said.

Still, Fordham read excerpts of feedback from listeners who, variously, said they were “disgusted at the sale” because politicians “don’t give a damn about our sovereignty” and were “traitors”. Morrison, one listener suggested, should be thrown out of office for putting a foreign entity ahead of Australia’s interest.

“You’re not a popular man this afternoon,” Fordham opined.



“Well, the treasurer is a hard job,” Morrison replied, in a moment of clarity.