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Where there are politicians, there are 'gotcha' questions and there are gaffes.

This year's election season has been nothing short of the tried-and-true journalist trope, with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese falling foul of the questions several times over the past few weeks.

On the first official day of the campaign Albanese failed to call into mind the specific cash rate and unemployment figure when repeatedly asked by reporters.

Later the same day, he apologised for his error and invoked a Taylor Swift reference by claiming he would "shake it off" and move on.

Then, in Sydney on May 5, Albanese was quizzed on the six points in Labor's NDIS plan, which again, he failed to recall off-hand.

For his part, incumbent Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made his share of gaffes and guffaws this election season.

He told a constituent named Catherine in Queensland on April 20 that he and wife Jenny had been "blessed" to not have had a child like her four-year-old Ethan who lives with a disability.

The statement attracted significant backlash, including from current Australian of the year, Dylan Alcott.

Back in February, the Prime Minister also failed to correctly recall the price of "a loaf of bread, a litre of petrol, and a rapid antigen test", when asked by a Sky News reporter at a National Press Club event.

Meanwhile, Greens leader Adam Bandt fired back at a Financial Review journalist's gotcha question at the National Press Club on April 13.

When asked what the current wage price index was in Australia, Bandt told the journalist to 'google it, mate'.

He then promptly told the gathering that he was certifiably "sick" of the constant gotcha questions aimed at politicians in what appear to be an endless "fact checking exersize", devoid of any sort of scrutiny or policy discussion.

"If you know why people are turning off politics, it's because of what happens when elections become a basic fact-checking exersize," Bandt said.

"Elections should be a contest of ideas [...] And instead there's these questions that are asked, can you tell us this particular stat, or that particular stat and those questions are designed to show that politicians are somehow out of touch and not representative of the people."

Implicit in Bandt's answer is the conclusion that gotcha questions take the focus away from meaningful debate.

But there was a time when gotcha questions could make or break a candidate's chances of winning of election.

Take *that infamous cake question in 1993*, which Channel 9's Mark Willessee levelled at Liberal leader John Hewson to surprising effect.

Willessee asked Hewson to demonstrate how GST would work on the purchase of a birthday cake.

What esured was nearly two minutes of confusing explanation discussing whether the cake was decorated and whether it was subject to sales taxes and so on.

"If the answer to a birthday cake is so complex, you do have a problem with the overall GST, don't you?" Willessee finally concluded.

After losing the election that year, Hewson dropped out of politics in 1994.

"During the 1993 election, when John Hewson failed to explain really neatly the impact that introducing GST would have on the price of cake, it's generally said that that cost him the election then and there," said Dr Jacob Deem, political scientist at the University of Central Queensland.

So, do voters care if their leaders cannot immediately recall facts and figures when pressed by journalists? Well, that depends on a few things according to Dr Deem.

"There's no doubt that these gaffes can really hurt a particular party's chances. It's not always the case and I think that the electorate as a whole is is reasonably forgiving of minor stuff ups along the way," Dr Deem said.

When politicians fail to know the current prices of every day living items, such as bread, milk, or petrol, it can hurt their brand as an 'every man candidate'.

"It creates, I suppose, a barrier between leaders and the people that they serve. It creates this feeling that, you know, they separate from us, they don't represent us," Dr Deem said.

"So in practical terms, no, it probably doesn't matter all that much [if they don't know the prices]. But in terms of perception, in terms of image, it is a bad look.

"And it does create or can create headaches for the leaders when they make these mistakes and aren't across their policy briefs."

National videographer, filmmaker, and editor. Former features and weekender writer for The Daily Advertiser. Small, quiet, and a student of the Julie Bishop School Of Staring. Usually dressed in something colourful, always snacking on something homemade. Friend to most mothers and all dogs. Got stories? Get in touch. emma.horn@austcommunitymedia.com.au

National videographer, filmmaker, and editor. Former features and weekender writer for The Daily Advertiser. Small, quiet, and a student of the Julie Bishop School Of Staring. Usually dressed in something colourful, always snacking on something homemade. Friend to most mothers and all dogs. Got stories? Get in touch. emma.horn@austcommunitymedia.com.au

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