ABC news show BANS ‘ScoMo’ and ‘Albo’ from its election coverage in an attempt to ‘maintain standards’
- The Prime Minister has been referred to as ‘ScoMo’ for about seven years
- Labor leader Anthony Albanese has been called ‘Albo’ since he was a child
- Prime ministers have been known by nicknames since the first one – Barton
ABC’s News Breakfast program has banned ScoMo and Albo from its coverage of the upcoming election campaign.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Anthony Albanese will still appear on the show – it’s just their nicknames that are no longer welcome.
Presenter Michael Rowland tweeted: ‘We promise to be a “ScoMo” and “Albo”-free zone.
‘Nicknames for political leaders have no place on our show. Someone has to maintain standards.’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will no longer be referred to as ‘ScoMo’ on ABC’s News Breakfast TV show
ABC presenter Michael Rowland (pictured left) has tweeted that he and his co-presenter Lisa Millar (pictured right) will no longer refer to Scott Morrison as ScoMo or Anthony Albanese as Albo on their program
Rowland also doesn’t want politicians to use abbreviated names for him or his co-presenter Lisa Millar.
‘And pollies using nicknames for us face the instant dump button!’ he wrote.
Though Mr Albanese has been called Albo since childhood, ScoMo seems to have first emerged about seven years ago.
In mid 2015, Mr Morrison appeared on Sydney radio station 2GB, where he was interviewed by Ben Fordham.
Fordham said to Mr Morrison at the end of the interview: ‘Before I let you go we are talking nicknames this afternoon and we have got a bit of a challenge running.
‘You picked up one recently which is Scott Morrison being shortened down to…’.
Mr Morrison 7knew where this was going and interjected to finish Fordham’s sentence.
‘ScoMo. These things I think Ben you just – you don’t get much say over these things, you just embrace them,’ he said.
Anthony Albanese (pictured) has been called Albo since he was a child growing up in Sydney
Then in January 2017 when Ray Hadley introduced Mr Morrison on his 2GB radio show, he said ‘should I say ScoMo?’.
‘That’s what I’ve been tagged as so I may as well embrace it,’ Mr Morrison replied.
‘That’s how people are increasingly getting to know me, so I’m happy to take the nickname.’
He embraced it to such an extent that his Facebook page mentions his nickname is ScoMo before it mentions that he is the prime minister.
Scott Morrison embraced his nickname to such an extent that his Facebook page (pictured) mentions his nickname is ScoMo before it mentions that he is the Prime Minister
Australians have a long history of having nicknames for prime ministers, going right back to the first to hold the office, Edmund Barton, who served from 1901 to 1903.
Mr Barton was a big, jovial man who was fond of long dinners and good wine and was given the nickname ‘Toby Tosspot’ by The Bulletin magazine.
Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese’s offices were contacted for comment.
With a federal election set to be held by the end of May, government support has slumped to its lowest level since 2018, according to the latest Newspoll.
Labor is ahead 56-44 on a two-party-preferred basis in the Coalition’s worst polling performance since September 2018, a month after Malcolm Turnbull was replaced by Scott Morrison.
The 12-point lead puts Labor on track to comfortably win the election and suggests the Coalition could lose up to 25 seats.