‘Please tell me he hasn’t gone to hospital’: Morrison the bulldozer knocks over a child while playing soccer | Australian election 2022

Scott Morrison has lived up to his self-applied moniker of “bulldozer” by crashing into a young child while playing football on the campaign trail in Tasmania. On Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister had a mid-match collision with the under-8s player at the Devonport City Soccer Club. Morrison visited the Strikers club in the Liberal-held marginal seat of Braddon to spruik a $3.5m grant for the club’s Valley Road grounds, including a new grandstand. Invited to join in a training match with the under-8s, Morrison strolled around the field amiably while his side scored a goal with little assistance from the prime minister.

Morrison then got more active by executing a successful tackle on the wing. But as the prime minister got more involved still, he stumbled and knocked one of the players, Luca Fauvette, to the ground. Morrison did not land directly on Luca, who got up – unharmed. Luca’s coach, Keegan Smith, later told Guardian Australia his young player “jumped up with a big smile and kept playing”. The club posted on Facebook that “the latest star of the election is OK and looking forward to being the star of the show at school tomorrow!”

It said Luca had “showed plenty of determination and effort to stop the PM scoring at all costs”. Morrison quipped in the clubhouse: “Where’s Luca? Please tell me he hasn’t gone off to the hospital.” The prime minister also highlighted the incident wwith reference to this recent attempt at self-reinvention when he promised to be more empathic. Rrecognizedhe could be a “bit of a bulldozer”. “I look forward to coming back on another occasion. When that grandstand comes down, I hear it might need a bit of a bulldozer to knock it down, so I might be able to help with that,” he told the assembled parents and players.

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Labor’s campaign spokesperson, Jason Clare, made a similar joke at Morrison’s expense. Many others on Twitter also poked fun at Morrison, including The Chaser. Wednesday’s incident was reminiscent of when Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, knocked over a child while playing rugby in Tokyo in 2015. Boris Johnson hit over a 10-year-old in Tokyo during a rugby match in 2015. Johnson was taking part in what was billed as a casual game of street rugby with adults and children on the final day of a trade mission to Japan

On Tuesday, the Liberal MP Gavin Pearce announced a $3.5m grant for the Tasmanian soccer club to substantially redevelop the ground, including lighting and upgrades, construction of a new grandstand, and refurbishment of existing clubroom and kitchen facilities. Pearce holds Braddon on a margin of 3.1%. The Devonport City Soccer Club received $385,000 in the community sport infrastructure grant program, which the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found was used by the Morrison government to boost its standing in marginal seats ahead of the 2019 election.

‘I can be a bit of a bulldozer’ and ‘I have to change’ leadership style, Scott Morrison says – the video Last week, Guardian Australia revealed the two major parties had made $40m of commitments to clubs that already benefited from the “sports rorts” program. The Devonport club’s initial grant proposal had received a score of 77.5, which the ANAO found meant it did merit funding.

Bella E. McMahon
I am a freelance writer who started blogging in college. I am fascinated by human nature, politics, culture, technology, and pop culture. In addition to my writing, I enjoy exploring new places, trying out new things, and engaging in conversations with new people. Some of my favorite hobbies are reading, playing music, making crafts, writing, traveling, and spending time with my family.