Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted his government has made mistakes throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, expressing regret over his missteps in a bid to regain public support lost over the summer.
Mr Morrison addressed the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday, responding to mounting frustrations in response to the Omicron variant head-on in his speech, conceding “I haven’t got everything right”.
However, he stopped short of apologising to the Australian public when confronted by ABC journalist Laura Tingle.
The prime minister recognised the government was “too optimistic” about looking forward to a summer of freedom and should have better-managed expectations.
“It’s fair that this disappointment leads you to ask ‘couldn’t you have done more? Couldn’t this have been avoided? After all, aren’t you responsible?” I get that,” he said.
“I haven't got everything right. And I'll take my fair share of the criticism and the blame. It goes with the job.”
Mr Morrison’s first major speech of the year had presented a significant chance for the government to reset the agenda, following the challenges presented by Omicron during the summer break and ahead of the upcoming federal election to be held in the first half of 2022.
The prime minister accepted that community frustration has intensified against the government’s handling of the pandemic, recognising the “exhausting” emotional and financial toll of the pandemic.
But he also overwhelmingly defended the government’s response to COVID-19, despite an acceptance that lessons could be learnt in hindsight.
Mr Morrison said Omicron “changed all the rules”, defending delays in sourcing widespread supplies of rapid antigen tests, saying their mass need had not been predicted by medical authorities.
"In these times we've experienced, there's been no guidebook, and you have to make decisions in real-time," he said.
"[But] lessons are learnt - lessons that will continue to be invaluable ... to deal with the challenges and uncertainties that are still definitely ahead."
Mr Morrison also pointed to the vaccination program as an example saying he would have made this a "military operation from the outset and not later in the year."
He also issued a government prediction that unemployment could fall below four per cent as a sign of better times ahead, laying the groundwork for an election fight centred on the economy.
"I believe we can now achieve an unemployment rate with a 'three' in front of it this year," the prime minister said.
"Our goal is to achieve this in the second half of 2022. We have not seen this in Australia for almost half a century."
The unemployment rate fell to 13-year low of 4.2 per cent in December.
Mr Morrison was also questioned about the cost of living pressures facing families coming out of the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He pointed to emergency payments issued by the government to support businesses and individuals from these impacts, but he also stressed money can’t keep being handed out without consideration.
“During the pandemic, you can’t pay for everything, because it has to be paid for,” he said.
“They’re very hard choices and you make them every day in a pandemic.”
Mr Morrison was asked by a journalist whether he had “lost touch with ordinary Australians” and whether he knew the price of a “loaf of bread, a litre of petrol and a rapid antigen test”.
“Now, I'm not going to pretend to you that I go out each day and I buy a loaf of bread and I buy a litre of milk,” he said.
“I'm not going to pretend to you that I do. But the point is that I do my job every day to ensure that those things are affordable as they possibly can be for Australians every single day.”
The speech comes after a recent Newspoll showed support for the Coalition had taken another hit as the government prepares for an election in less than four months time.
Mr Morrison said that Australians should trust his government over Labor on managing the economy and government moving forward.
“It's not a time to have an each-way bet on Australia's future,” he said.
“We must continue to build our strength and resilience and not put everything you have worked all so hard for and made great sacrifices for at risk.”
He said he doesn’t think voters expected “perfection” from the prime minister, but said they “do expect you to keep working it every single day.”
“Now is not the time to turn back,” he said.
“This year, we must work to bring as much normality back to people's lives as possible.”
