The Prime Minister’s National Press Club address
No, it isn’t the most straightforward job on earth. The hours are horrendous, and the expectations unimaginable. No one would take it on thinking it was a piece of cake. That’s why people are paid an enormous sum. Some do so for the power it gives them; others are genuine in their desire to create a better place. Whatever it is, you must accept the responsibilities that go with it.
Sometimes when things go pear-shaped, a leader has to stand before his distracters and confess his wrongdoings. Scott Morrison went partway in doing just that when he addressed the National Press Club last Tuesday. Did he show enough contrition equal to his deplorable governance? Well, opinions might vary, but for me, he showed little that would match his inability to govern with any quality of leadership.
His speech wasn’t an apology, nor was it a confession that he had made many mistakes and shown little foresight in confronting the issue of COVID-19. It was a grim speech, never mentioning climate change and produced little to excite a nation worn out by the invading pandemic and its variants.
Morrison had his back to the wall. One could cut a knife through the suspense. There was an expectancy on his part that the audience would be understanding of the difficulties of governing. He toyed with a self-desired sympathy for his efforts that weren’t forthcoming.
Then he suggested that the devil you know is better than the one you don’t. The Coalition was still the better money manager, and their born to rule right still applied.
For me, many factors explained his unpopularity. Before giving his address, I believed that the media in general only attributed his handling of the virus to his recent bad polling. After question time, I concluded I was wrong. The journalists were ruthless in their cross-examination of the Prime Minister, covering a wide range of subjects of a controversial nature.
The air between them and the Prime Minister was as thick as I have experienced. Maybe they were sick of being lied to.
The Guardian reported on one of those ruthless questions:
“Laura Tingle (not exactly a favourite of the PM) asked Scott Morrison if he was going to apologise for ‘the mistakes he has made as prime minister’, citing the Government’s handling of the pandemic but also Morrison’s holiday to Hawaii during the black summer bushfires in 2019 and cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).”
He didn’t directly answer the question but did admit that:
“I haven’t got everything right. And I’ll take my fair share of the criticism and the blame… We’re all terribly sorry for what this pandemic has done to the world and to this country.”
An excellent example of not answering the question.
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The Liberal Party has always been a party of elites. The idea that economics and society are intertwined is abhorrent to them. Economics is the domain of the wealthy and privileged, and society belongs to those of class and privilege.
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Defence involved in rollout of vaccine
The Prime Minister didn’t say sorry; he did say that if he had his time again, he’d have done the vaccine rollout differently:
“If I had my time over, I would have put [the rollout] under military operation from the outset, and not later in the year,” he said.
“As we went through those early months and we had the challenges that we had with the Health Department… I took the decision to send in General (John) Frewen and change the way we did it.
“[We] set up a change in the command structure, how logistics were managed, how it was planned.
“And it worked but I wish I’d done that earlier, and that’s a lesson.”
“Mr Morrison also said the confusion around whether and when aged care patients could be taken to public hospitals was another issue that proved challenging during the outbreaks in 2020.”
Lieutenant General John Frewen was responsible for the oversight of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Safety in Parliament
The Prime Minister was asked what changes had been made to make Parliament and its political offices safer this year than last year.
Morrison answered that the most crucial difference this time around was the independent complaints body that was in place for anyone who was previously too worried about coming forward.
“That, I think, assists everybody who works in that building,” he said. “Not enough,” l thought.
Unemployment rate
Mr Morrison was exuberant when talking about the difference in the unemployment rates between now and the last time he addressed National Press Club a year ago.
“Unemployment is at 4.2 per cent. When I stood here a year ago, it was 6.6 per cent,” the Prime Minister said.
I find the unemployment figures being thrown around at the moment almost unacceptable, including folk who work one hour a week as in full-time employment totally inappropriate. A new method of measurement needs to be found.
Cost of living
When asked about what his Government would, or could, do to ease the rising cost of living for millions of Australians. Mr Morrison’s answer was an off the shelf one:
“That is why good economic management was more important than ever.”
The truth is that the cost of living will be a significant item in this election.
When asked a standard stock question on how much a loaf of bread, a litre of petrol and a rapid antigen test cost, Mr Morrison replied that:
“I’m not going to pretend to you that I go out each day and I buy a loaf of bread and I buy a litre of milk.”
“The point is that I do my job every day to ensure that those things are as affordable as they possibly can be for Australians every single day.”
In any campaign, an answer is essential, and candidates should know it off the top of their heads. Indeed, he drives past a servo in his travels.
How do you know if he is telling the truth?
A long line of journalists asked further questions about the public anger with the PM, a few on aged care, a royal commission question on COVID-19 to which Morrison gave a non-committal answer.
Samantha Maiden asked about government members claiming expenses when staying in their own homes. He was okay with it so long as they weren’t breaking the law. David Crowe queried the availability of RATs.
Andrew Probyn asked why the prime minister thought he was the best person to lead the country. Still, the most controversial was by Peter van Onselen about tweets concerning the former Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian. It caused a bit of a stir that forced the Prime Ministers eye blink rate into overdrive. I’m sure there is more to come on that one.
All in all, it was a most unsatisfactory performance by a Prime Minister with his back to the wall. His Ministers, who would remain much the same if he wins the election, need shoulder much of the blame. It is as well the National Press Club address isn’t a viewing highlight of the week for the general population. They would have been very disappointed.
To those who say Albo doesn’t have charisma, I ask which of the following. Did:
John Howard, Julia Gillard, John Hewson, Bob Hawke, Gough Whitlam, Bill Shorten, Kim Beasley, Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Fraser, Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison?
There are three, and they are all Labor.
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My thought for the day
Power is a malevolent possession when you are prepared to forgo your principles and your country’s wellbeing for the sake of it.
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John Lord you are such a reliable, balanced reasonable writer. I always read your posts and thank you for saving my time.
You left out Paul Keating…….! I reckon he was pretty charismatic. Not everyone loved him, but in the charisma stakes, I reckon he was up there with the best of them. There is even a social media site dedicated to Keating which is more than I can say for John Howard!
You ask who had charisma, from a list, but, alternatively, Jack Howard is there. If two complete arseholes were to be selected, he’d be both. Basically empty, unoriginal, vindictive, ultraconservative, he’d have made corporal in a 1940’s military camp. Maybe.
yes to everything. But still people think Scummo is the better PM ? Why ?????? He’s not even a better man by any measure.
Sadly, there is truth in the requisite qualifications, for a labor PM, in the absence of a cake, being ‘charisma’. Beasley, little Billy and Albo all faced a waste of space liberal PM and would have been good solid PMs but they lacked the advertising power of charisma in attack or, indeed, any attack at all? The inability to buy, much less hoard, and what has happened to the copperman’s $440m would have been my observation and my question. ps According to scummo, poor old barnaby has changed his mind about scummo. Beetroot will be on insiders, I may have to tape and watch with thumb on FF?
spot on, Keitha,
the lying rodent, the rabbott and the copperman were no better men than scummo but they were preferred over labor and the greens. What will the bandit do to ensure the succession?
Scummo is not even better than a grub. a slime ball, or scum floating to the top of a toxic pool.
As Laura Tingle has pointed out, appointing the all but useless General Frewen to oversee distribution of vaccines was nothing but a red herring – a typical Morrison move, a squirrel moment – because the main problem was SUPPLY!
Morrison is a disgusting human being by any measure.
Un/Employment …. I’m finding it hard to reconcile the supposedly good numbers with all the empty shops I see.
I live in an inner urban area with lots of shopping areas nearby. I use them all for a variety of reasons, mostly convenience when I’m coming home from somewhere.
I’m wondering where all the people who worked in all those empty shops are working now. Are they really employed? It’s hard to think so. Certainly not for a living wage.
Morrison is,as his “colleagues” call him, an arsehole.Many of us think that is far too kind to him.Morrison is, has been, and always will be, full of shit and full of himself,and I challenge anyone to discern the difference.The unraveling of this narcissistic tosspot is becoming more enjoyable by the day,and I find myself looking forward to the next serving of photo op fakery.The way things are going for the lying nasty party in NSW,Morrison could be personally responsible for their decimation .What could be more fitting?
Yes, John, Morrison was asked by journalist Sam Maiden if it was reasonable for politicians to be claiming a $291-a-night allowance to stay in their own house or apartment in Canberra : naturally he responded that he didn’t hold the hose or set the allowances.
The iony is that they frequently refer to can do capitalism as their ideal but last time I looked private enterprise reimburses expenses incurred after the money has been spent i.e. you have to first spend the money in a hotel or motel to then claim reimbursement.
What we have here is politicians who own houses in Canberra, who then demand a $291 a night allowance to stay in their own home.
We employ these people : it’s our fault !
Have not people yet learned that when you follow the strategy ”My hypothesis is my conclusion” then you get the answer that your employer requires.
MSM scribblers are required to keep Scummo ahead of Albo likely because of payments made to their employer. Australian voters are not a stupid as these pollsters would have us believe ….. though 2019 I must say, they went close.
Phil Pryor, that lying turd wouldn’t even get through the gate into recruit training. The army does have standards (fallen a bit lately).
Bert, our Jack was in the air cadets, never promoted, and not regarded for a prefect possy. I was referring to an age of quasi S S ranks, in a mock fascist way. Jack was insular, self fixated, had to be noticed and heard, but never conversed or listened…