Australian PM Scott Morrison flattens eight-year-old child in football match

Australian PM Scott Morrison flattens eight-year-old child in football match
2022 05 18T092503Z 1 LWD881018052022RP1 RTRWN
Max Parry

By Max Parry


Published: 18/05/2022

- 18:19

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 11:23

Morrison's tackle has been compared to Boris Johnson's rugby tackle of a young child when he was Mayor of London

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been videoed squashing an eight-year-old boy during a football match.

Morrison arrived at Devonport Strikers football club in Tasmania and removed his jacket before joining the game.


Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Reuters

Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Reuters

Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Reuters

Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Scott Morrison attempts to tackle Luca Fauvette
Reuters

However, the Aussie PM seemed to get in a tangle as he tried to tackle young Luca Fauvette.

Morrison appeared embarrassed as he crushed the child.

He simply asked the boy "you good?" - he did not get a response.

The Australian Prime Minister later asked: "Where’s Luca? Where’s Luca? He’s probably gone off to hospital."

The boy was not in hospital, but simply went home after the game.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese during the second leaders' debate of the 2022 federal election campaign at the Nine studio in Sydney, Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese during the second leaders' debate of the 2022 federal election campaign at the Nine studio in Sydney, Australia.
POOL

This comes as the polls are too close to call in the Australian election.

Polls out on today showed, as the ruling conservative coalition narrowed the gap with the main opposition Labor Party, three days before the country decides on a new government.

Centre-left Labor's lead over the Liberal-National coalition has shrunk to 51-49 percent on a two-party preferred basis from 54-46 percent two weeks ago, a poll done for the Sydney Morning Herald showed. A Guardian poll indicated Labor's lead had dipped to 48-46 percent from 49-45 percent two weeks ago.

Australian incumbent Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese debate on live television ahead of the 2022 federal election, in Sydney, Australia.
Australian incumbent Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese debate on live television ahead of the 2022 federal election, in Sydney, Australia.
POOL

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the pre-polling trends as "really encouraging", while Labor acknowledged the election would be "incredibly close".

With Australia going to the polls on Saturday, rising living costs have dominated the final stretches of the campaign with voters rating it as the most critical issue in some polls.

Australian wage growth ticked up by only a fraction last quarter, data out on Wednesday showed, even as a tightening labour market and record vacancies heightened competition for workers.

But consumer price inflation has risen twice as fast as wages, keeping real income in the red.

"I have been very candid with Australians about the economic challenges we're facing ... Labor has no magic bullet on this, they have no magic pen or magic wand," Morrison told reporters from the marginal Labor-held seat of Corangamite in Victoria.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese blamed government mismanagement for the slow rise in wages and inflation shock.

"Australian workers are paying the price for a decade of bad policy and economic failures while Scott Morrison says he should be rewarded with another three years because he is just getting started," Albanese said.

Nearly 6 million voters out of an electorate of 17 million have already cast their ballots through postal votes or early in-person voting, official data showed.

An additional 1.1 million postal votes have been received so far versus the 2019 election. The Electoral Commission has flagged a clear winner may not emerge on election night if it is a close contest due to time required to count all postal votes.

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