In their final joint Today interview of the year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten brought the silly season energy, and briefly discussed some politics too.
Addressing the serious business first, reflecting on the deal with Greens that allowed Labor to get much of its agenda through the Senate overnight, Shorten was reluctant to give the minor party any credit.
“In terms of the Greens, they exist there in the political spirit. We would always like to negotiate sensibly on some matters. Peter, here, we were able to do a deal with. On others, the Greens gave in.”
“Did it hurt you to say that?” Dutton interjected as Shorten laughed.
Bill Shorten and Peter Dutton hug it out on Nine’s Today.Credit: Nine
“It’s about getting things done for the people, mate. And that’s the Senate. It’s a bit like making a sausage. You don’t always want to see how it’s done, but it’s about the end product, isn’t it?” Shorten said.
Dutton replied that this was the “best spin” he’d ever heard.
“What we saw in the Senate last night was a going-out-of-business sale. It was like everything discounted and whatever it takes to clear the shelves.”
Once the politics were out of the way, host Karl Stefanovic asked Dutton if he’d like to say “something nice about Bill ahead of Christmas”, to which Dutton replied that he wanted to say “how good Bill is looking this morning”.
Stefanovic then called on the men to “hug it out”, which they eventually did.
Hysterics broke out when Shorten quipped that they were “like a pair of guys who wandered into the wrong bar on Oxford Street”.
Dutton responded: “It’s been a rough night when you’re embracing Bill in the morning. That’s all I’ll say.”
Read the full article here
