Greens Leader Fires Back At Reporter For 'Gotcha' Question

Leader of the Greens party, Adam Bandt, returned serve at a journalist who attempted a 'gotcha' question during his National Press Club speech.

Bandt was speaking to members of the media in Canberra, when he was asked by a journo from the Financial Review if he knew the exact wage price index (WPI).

"Google it, mate!" Bandt rapidly replied.

"If you to know why people are turning off politics, it’s about what happens when you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic fact-checking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that’s got no vision. This is what happens."

- Adam Bandt

The WPI is a measuring stick in economics, which outlines the pressure of inflation on wages and salaries.

It comes two days after leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese was caught out when asked for both the current cash rate and unemployment figures, in the midst of a campaign in Tasmania.

Albanese's blunder caused an array of journalists questioning both federal and state MPs about date relating to employment.

"Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society. And instead, there’s these questions that are asked about ‘Can you tell us this particular stat or can you tell us that particular stat?’," Bandt said.

"Those questions are designed to show that politicians are somehow out of touch and not representative of everyday people.

"News flash! Most of the people in Canberra are on six-figure salaries, just passing time until they go out and work for the coal and gas corporations and get a six or seven-figure lobbying job."

Get the latest breaking news from SCA newsrooms around Australia. Short, simple and everything you need to know.