By Andrew Wicks
The images of a lonely Scott Morrison at another international summit has proved how deep the antipathy is toward him… and us by extension.
While the most prickly piece of news emerging from the G20 this morning is Emmanuel Macron calling bullshit over the sunk $90bn submarine deal between France and Australia. Per The Guardian, “When asked whether he thought Scott Morrison had lied to him by not revealing Australia’s secret dialogue with the UK and US over the acquisition of nuclear submarines, a dialogue that ultimately became the Aukus pact, Macron was direct in his response. ‘I don’t think, I know,’ he said.”
It’s also worth noting that Macron met a number of leaders at the event in Rome, and Scott Morrison wasn’t one of them.
Now, letting the Prime Minister out without parental supervision usually provokes a response from the populace, as quietly, shamefully disown him just like the toddler running amok at the party. “Whose child is that?”, the world may ask, as we remain silent, disassociating, thinking of our lives without him. Interestingly, the below video clip seems a trifle unfair (and perhaps Scott Morrison is a victim of editing), but it reveals something that happens every time he attends one of these meetings: the leaders of the world like him about as much as we do.
Scott no friends.
(and no climate policy either). #auspol @AustralianLabor pic.twitter.com/AaFKeMsgef
— Patrick Gorman MP (@PatrickGormanMP) October 31, 2021
The international view of Scott Morrison oscillates between two polar opposites. Either they don’t know who he is, or they know, and are choosing to ignore him. Recently, Joe Biden (during the announcement of the deal that screwed Macron), famously forgot his name, while looking at him no less, thanking “that fella down under. Thank you very much, pal.”
The 2021 G20 is not an isolated incident, as his trip to the 2019 edition hinted at where our international prestige lay. In the eyes of the world, Morrison is completely out of his depth and has endured the summit as we have at our partner’s work mixer, avoided by all and sundry, forced to retreat to the safe borders of one’s phone.
The loneliness of boredom and the familiarity of being on the outside is wonderfully defined in the image below.
I realise it’s foolish to draw conclusions from a collection of images, but the alienation of Morrison is fairly obvious, and it is clearly repeating. Something we’ve all done, nomadically travelled to separate conversations we have no station in, those we are politely shut out of before we seek plains anew. He’s clearly the victim of the politest form of denial, the avoidance of eye contact.
Like the chap stranded at a birthday party, he’s clearly hanging in the orbit of the individual he knows best (Donald), although, he’s busy, he’ll hopefully be soon for a chat, and what was that joke about – are you guys laughing at a joke, that Donny is funny, hey? I’m Scott, by the way.
The interesting part of the next image is that his partner is clearly making an effort with Melania Trump, whereas Scott has remained in place, waiting for a look from his mate, hopefully, to signify that it’s finally time to go.
There has been substantial worry that the world will see who we elected, and suddenly think less of us. In Scott’s world (Australia, through the lens of his personal photographer), all is perpetually well. Knowing what we now know, the context that accompanies the below image is spectacularly grim. According to reports, the media at the event were kept in an area away from the leaders as they mingled. Morrison, with his personal photographer in tow (who took the image), allegedly made a bee-line for Macron (and sans mask), interrupted his chat and took the following photograph.
“I said g’day, I said g’day… he was having a chat to someone, I went up and just put my arm on his shoulder and just said ‘g’day, Emmanuel,’ and ‘look forward to catching up over the next couple of days… that’s the way these events tend to work and he was happy to exchange those greetings.”
So this was the best pic the PMO could get? Eeek pic.twitter.com/TgTkxxlbu4
— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) October 30, 2021
Clearly, the two versions of the image do not marry, leaving us at a familiar point, where we’re forced to accept his version of the truth. But as Benjamin Law put it: “As embarrassing as it is to see Scott Morrison on the international stage, there’s something relieving about it too—like having a secretly horrible family member making a scene and shitting themselves in public and you finally feeling like you have a witness to your ongoing pain.”
Awkward.
So photos emerging of the G20 mingling event – and NOT from Morrison’s personal photographer. pic.twitter.com/LOw1rcZrBj
— Mari R (@randlight) October 30, 2021
This article was originally published on The Big Smoke.
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