Politician freezes for brutal 26 seconds

Staffan Tjörnhammar, deputy chairman of the municipal board of the town of Norrtälje, an hour north of Stockholm, was grilled by news channel SVT about the local politicians voting to give themselves a nearly 30 per cent salary increase on Monday.

The vote on the new compensation model – the council’s first action since being elected – would, among other things, see chairman Bino Drummond’s salary increase by 23,400 Swedish krona ($A3340) to 110,400 krona a month ($A15,800).

The move sparked backlash from the local opposition.

Mr Drummond refused to answer questions about his salary and instead sent his deputy Mr Tjörnhammar.

“Your salary increase alone is one month’s salary for a cleaner – isn’t there some other use for that money?” the SVT reporter asked.

Mr Tjörnhammar stood staring blankly for nearly half a minute.

“Everything is a question of priorities,” he eventually said.

SVT reports the board has since backed away from the decision.

“It went too fast and I have come to the conclusion that the decision needs to be redone,” Mr Drummond said in a text message to the broadcaster.

The 26-second silence puts to shame NSW Water Minister Kevin Anderson’s recent short-circuit.

Mr Anderson was being grilled by Sydney 2GB radio host Ben Fordham over funding to raise the Warragamba Dam wall.

The $1.6 billion project was declared a “Critical State Significant Infrastructure” by the NSW Government earlier this month, with Premier Dominic Perrottet and Treasurer Matt Kean both expressing hope the Federal Government would agree to a joint funding split.

But according to the 2GB, the Government had already decided it would not help fund the project.

Mr Anderson said he had not heard that when the claim was put to him in the interview.

Fordham also claimed that Mr Perrottet had not raised the issue with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Anderson appeared speechless after he was told the project had been raised “zero” times despite the two leaders meeting at various times over the last week.

He paused for almost 10 seconds before answering.

“Well that’s a matter for Anthony Albanese and a matter for Dom Perrottet in terms of what they talk about,” he said.

In 2011, then opposition leader Tony Abbott infamously gave a 24-second death stare to Seven News reporter Mark Riley, after being questioned about his comments on Afghanistan war deaths.

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– with NCA NewsWire