I don't know why he does it either, because he is actually capable of speaking like a normal human as evidenced by some of the pre-election podcast type stuff he did. He can come across as relatable and even funny, yet for whatever reason he or his media handlers have decided a better strategy would be for Australia to think he's a knob.

[–] minimumchips@aussie.zone 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

He gained a lot of social capital in opposition by coming across as a humanist with his childhood story, and campaigning for increasing social welfare payments. Now he seems like the archetypal "boomer" who got what they needed and pulled up the ladder. (I know not all boomers are like this, but we've all met one of them).

[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I fucking hate his "single mum in public housing" story so much. He's 63 and prime minister, it ceased being relevant decades ago. Having a poor parent is also very different to being poor as an adult, as anyone who has been in both situations knows. Constantly bringing up it up to try to appear empathetic to the poor adults of today just makes him look clueless, especially when he continuously fails to back it up with anything of substance. The only people who think it holds any weight are middle-class Labor diehards who don't have any lived experience of this and therefore believe the childhood sob story makes him some kind of perfect centre-left politician.

[–] minimumchips@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah I hear ya. It's insulting. There are a lot of people that don't understand that upwards social mobility is gone now. It's all about family wealth and support now. More people will understand this as time goes on.