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Morrison blames media for travel ban backlash

By TBS Newsbot

According to Scott Morrison, it’s the media’s fault for focusing on the punitive elements of his travel ban.

This morning, Scott Morrison has publicly claimed that it is the media’s fault for highlighting the potential gaol time and fines that Indian-Australians face if they try and return home. 3AW’s Neil Mitchell asked the Prime Minister; “I would argue you’ve perhaps made a mistake in emphasising punishment which is what happened. Would you agree that was a mistake?” In response, Morrison said, “we didn’t, but the media did.”

Which isn’t actually true. Per a media release on April 30, issued by Greg Hunt, the Minister for Health and Aged Care; “Failure to comply with an emergency determination under the Biosecurity Act 2015 may incur a civil penalty of 300 penalty units (which equates to $66,000 – Ed), five years’ imprisonment, or both.”

After Mitchell highlighted this point, Morrison said; “There was simply a statement of what the Biosecurity Act does as a way of fact, this is not something that was accentuated by Greg Hunt or me or anyone else. It was picked up on (sic) in the media and they’ve highlighted that. But as I’ve said it’s highly, highly remote that the extremes of those sanctions would apply in these circumstances because they’ve been in place for 14 months and no one’s been to jail.”

The delusion is certainly real. Clearly, it’s the media’s fault for accurately reporting a government provision, but clearly, whether they enforce it (or not) is the issue that should be the focus. The people who haven’t gone to gaol, those who still might, but probably won’t. What?

Health commentator and GP Vyom Sharma thought the decision “incredibly disproportionate to the threat that it posed.” Sharma is certainly correct on this score in terms of international law, which requires the least restrictive or least intrusive way of protecting citizens.

As Dr Binoy Kampmark noted, “Then there was the issue of the previous policies Canberra had adopted to countries suffering from galloping COVID-19 figures. A baffled Sharma wondered, ‘Why is it that India has copped this ban and no people who have come from America?’ Former race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane seconds the suspicions. ‘We didn’t see differential treatment being extended to countries such as the United States, the UK, and any other European country even though the rates of infection were very high and the danger of its arrivals from those countries was very high’.”

This article was originally published on The Big Smoke.

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27 comments

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  1. Henry Rodrigues

    This bastard always fronts the media, his friendly media. and then makes grandiose announcements, but when the shit hits the fan, he always blames it on someone else, in this case, the media, and then sends in someone else to clean up the shit, in this case the GHunt.

    And the stupid bloody people will still vote for this bastard.

  2. New England Cocky

    ‘Why is it that India has copped this ban and no people who have come from America?’

    Because the government composed principally of Hell$ong Cult members is a White Supremacist organisation intent upon subverting Australian law for the financial benefit of their members.

  3. SullY of Broken Hill

    Henry Rodrigues, exactly put, and yep, they will vote this sneaky, lying turd of a fraud and his whole corrupt circus back in again. Work with The Murdoch Maggots to get the war drums going, keep up the reds under the beds scare, throw in a few lies about Labor taking all your bank accounts, super and homes away from you, plus outlawing Christianity plus Christmas, Easter, Australia Day and Anzac Day and The LNP will just sneak back in again.

  4. pierre wilkinson

    yet another superbly crafted ad hoc distraction from the rapacious corruption and rorting this criminal government gets away with due to a compliant media and a voting populace with the IQ and attention span of a goldfish
    oh look, saber rattling from China,
    no sex scandal here, women are wonderful, the economy is going gangbusters, no misogyny
    oh look, we are out performing the rest of the world in covid containment,
    no problem with our plan to vaccinate everybody
    oh look, a royal did something
    how good is the footy?
    nothing to see here… move along

  5. GL

    It’s blown up in his stupid gormless face and he does what he always does, blames someone else and then slides off on the greasy skidmark trail he always leaves behind him like a snail in an attempt to hide. Business as usual for Scotty from Marketing.

  6. Ross

    Seriously, the media is to blame for informing the public on the punitive elements of the Biosecurity Act 2015. You might suggest it’s the media’s obligation and in the governments interests to highlight the consequences of violating this act. You know to deter people from transgressing.

    Very sorry your worship, If I had known the punitive elements I would not have transgressed.
    I had no idea because the media didn’t inform me of the potential fines and jail time.
    Try that excuse on a beak and see how it pans out.

    Try as you might to keep comments civil this mob are making it increasingly difficult.

  7. Kathryn

    As usual, the totally inept, arrogant and bone idle SLOTH Morrison ALWAYS looks around for SOMEONE ELSE to blame for his appalling mismanagement and inability to LEAD! If they had an OLYMPIC GAMES for the worst, most inept, callously inhumane and unspeakably depraved government in Australia’s history, the Lieberal National Coalition would get Gold, Silver and Bronze in EVERY event! The destruction, environmental vandalism, appalling level of blatant misogyny and callous inhumanity committed by this horrendous regime over the last eight years has been absolutely catastrophic and internationally condemned! Morrison’s despicable, pompous cabinet are up to their necks in self-serving corruption and, worse, a level of bible-thumping hypocrisy that is absolutely nauseating!

  8. George Halicki

    The absolute gall of this dictator and his cronies. The school yard bully, the tough guy ‘protecting us all’ with his un-Australian behaviour. That the ANZACS would have knackered him on the spot without a second thought regardless of the consequences.

    So much for looking after Australians who could not return home and who ‘should have come home earlier’ after he told us on 26 Mar ’20 to wait it out (overseas) to let the tourists come home first. Then introducing arrival caps (with variable reductions) to avoid a heavy burden on the states after he fobbed off quarantine handling to them.

    Now the bully has been caught out he blames it on someone else as usual and will try and distract us with his usual marketing spin and BS, or better described as lies. We need a Leader who take responsibility to introduce a proper quarantine standard with the appropriate facilities, manage the vaccine roll-out (with the help of a few $ mill to consultants) and show the required skillset to run the country. Clearly not the case to date.

    He is keen to keep the infection numbers down otherwise it may expose weakness in our health system that could not cope with an outbreak of a few hundred cases. Another ploy, weaken the health system so they can privatise it to their LNP donors similar to the ABC so the Murdoch maggots can get their greedy paws on more tax payer money.

    I will be simply stunned and disappointed if the LNP get voted in again but I am hopeful these arrogant bunch sleazebags will be out on their butts come May ’22 or earlier. I remain optimistic.

  9. Andrew J. Smith

    Don’t bite the hand that feeds you….. This may be the beginning of the end when some of his own MPs and masters e.g. Sharma and Bolt at NewsCorp call out Morrison’s decision on India; he is seemingly oblivious* as to how influential the Indian community is in many urban electorates? Suppose few if any of Indian heritage are to be found at Hillsong…. or god bothering….

    Blind support for the LNP, and attacks against Labor etc., from NewsCorp, 9Fairfax and 7West, makes the LNP very complacent when dealing with and catering to media, knowing they will be neither scrutinised nor presented negatively…. hubris or arrogance gets many in the end…. especially Covid response federally remains shambolic…..

  10. Michael Taylor

    I might have missed it, but I don’t see any evidence of the media defending themselves.

  11. George Halicki

    Good point. I don’t think it is worthwhile engaging with a moron who will only keep coming back at you. Best leave idiots and morons lie. I hope Australia is starting to wake up’

  12. SullY of Broken Hill

    Michael Taylor, you didn’t miss anything, the media are just lapdogs. On ABC”s Afternoon Briefing, Patricia Karvelas mentioned it to Spewey Speers, and they both made light of it, with a joke about the Press Release, all smiles, then Speers went on to say that Morrison is not backing down on the Ban part though. God give me strength, I felt like landing one on Speers face.

  13. Kerri

    Can anyone verify Morrison’s claim that the sanctions have been in place for 16months??
    Why have we heard nothing about it before now?

  14. Kerri

    #Henry Rodrigues
    I failed in a prediction of a back flip a few days ago. I thought he would send out Payne or Hunt but instead McCormack took the bullet. Morrison has a long line of useful idiots to roll out as so many in the LNP consider themselves PM material.
    #Kathryn
    I have been constantly saying laziest PM ever. Today he said he couldn’t do something (can’t remember what) because he was “too busy” fighting the pandemic. That’s what he hates most about Dan Andrews. While Morrison was trying to walk and chew gum. Andrews was doing all the covid stuff as well as continuing the level crossing program and several other public works programs. Running away is what Scottyfrommarketing does best.

  15. DrakeN

    All this dissing of SootyfromMarketing is getting a bit repetative – could he please stop making such an arse of himself so that we can have a bit of mental space to focus on the myriad of other stuffs-up of which the ordinary punter remains unaware?
    It’s altogether a bit much that a handful of incompetents such as he can keep the limelight to themselves.
    Somehow one gets to feel a tad relevant deficient. 😉

  16. wam

    Scummo forgot about the white people there and didn’t slater give it to him. I expect nikki will smack his arse on sunday. ps The danger to us from the virus is still the idiots like hunt who thinks masks protect the wearer when they are some protection from spreading but almost no protection from catching.
    Having been in a covid wards I have seen the professionals trying to protect themselves.

  17. GL

    Scotty from Marketing must be very thankful that he’s made of unstable molecules like Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Because if he wasn’t he would have long ago twisted his head clean off his neck with the amount of spin he’s been going through.

    And, paraphrased with apologies to, now part the Scotty version of Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger.

    To every thing there is spin, and a time to every purpose under the Hill (are alive to the sound of cash registers) song:
    A time to spin, and a time to lie, a time to plant, a time to leak that which is planted;
    A time to spin, and a time to bark, a time to “break” down, and a time to hide;
    A time to spin, and a time to smirk: a time to smirk more, and a time to happy dance;
    A time to throw mud, and a time to run away;

  18. Kaye Lee

    DrakeN,

    Labor have launched a website to remind everyone of the myriad of stuffs-up

    https://alpnatmicro.linas.net/notonyourside

    eg Jobs for the boys and girls (just a few of them)

    Tony Abbott – appointed to the War Memorial Board.

    Warren Truss – appointed to the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

    Julie Bishop – member of the aid contractor, Palladium board.

    George Brandis – appointed UK high commissioner.

    Joe Hockey – Ambassador to the US.

    Mitch Fifield – appointed UN ambassador.

    Arthur Sinodinos – appointed US ambassador at the end of Joe Hockey’s term.

    Christopher Pyne – former defence minister now lobbyist for defence contractors.

  19. Terence Mills

    Not to mention :

    Bruce Billson as Small Business Ombudsman

    Barry O’Farrell as High Commissioner to India

  20. Kaye Lee

    Sophie Mirabella to the Fair Work Commission and Andrew Nikolic and a kazillion others to the Appeals tribunal….the list is endless

  21. Michael Taylor

    I’m glad to know of Labor’s website, Kaye. But what I’ve gotta ask is why didn’t I know about it? I spend a great deal of time on social media but haven’t once seen it promoted by the Labor Party.

  22. Kaye Lee

    I think it’s new Michael. I just learned about it this morning from the Guardian live feed.

  23. Michael Taylor

    Thank you, Kaye. They’re forgiven.

  24. GL

    I can’t wait to see what the LNP and Rupert and 9/Fairfax has to say about that site Kaye Lee. The mud, bs and outright lies and hurricane force spin will be a sight to behold.

  25. Henry Rodrigues

    Thanks Kaye for the website pointer. I’ve saved it to my hard drive and mailed it to several people on my mailing list. And will keep it for future campaigns.

  26. GL

    On a side note, but still about the media: Can anyone see the ABC being hammered into small pieces between now and continuing after the LNP gets back in (pessimistic of me but…) at the next election? Porter’s (along with the other federal scum) revenge driven wrath at them for daring to stand up to one of the Chosen One’s will be relentless and hate filled. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-07/abc-defence-in-christian-porter-defamation-case-to-be-public/100113830 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-06/christian-porter-applies-strike-out-parts-abc-defence-defamation/100122360

  27. GH

    GL I hope the LNP do not return so we live in hope that the mud sticks to all of them, not just Porter trying to eliminate ABC’s defense. Although we can see what Porter is trying to do, I do not know why his current effort should even be considered at this point when it will be hashed out in court later in the year.

    Thanks Kaye Lee for the Labor website, good to read and lift one’s spirits 🙂

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