The AIM Network

Scott Morrison’s Major Gaffe

Michael Springer

Image from Sky News

Last night the first ‘Leaders Debate’ of this election was held in Brisbane, and it was broadcasted by Sky News.

History tells us a panel of undecided voters believed Mr Albanese won that debate. That is not the purpose of me writing this article, as the outcome of the first debate is now a matter of history.

The reason I am writing this article is because during the debate Mr Morrison used some insensitive and ignorant remarks in response to a woman named Catherine, who raised her concerns about the NDIS and her disabled child. Before the howls of protest come my way, I don’t believe Mr Morrison spoke any words last night in response maliciously, but his words were insensitive and ignorant, and his subsequent conduct has caused me great concern. Catherine asked both leaders about the future of the national disability insurance scheme, citing concerns that her four-year-old son Ethan’s care package had been slashed by 30% after a review. Morrison said in response to Catherine:

“[My wife] Jenny and I have been blessed, we’ve got two children that don’t – that haven’t had to go through that,” he said.

“So, for parents with children who are disabled, I can only try to understand your aspirations for those children.”

Not long after Mr Morrison spoke these words, social media erupted with many people displaying their anger about Mr Morrison’s choice of words and how those words affected them or their family.

Respected disability advocate Craig Wallace, tweeted these words at 9.55am on 20 April 2022:

 

 

Now, the other commentary set out below does not suggest Mr Morrison was acting maliciously. Craig Wallace is right, it was careless (I add ignorance to that opinion about Mr Morrison’s conduct during the debate), but it should have been cleared up by Mr Morrison with an apology much sooner than when he eventually did apologise, because there was already on social media that night of 20 April 2022 (don’t say to me how could he know because the staffers and campaign team would have been studying each social media website into the early hours this morning) a list of upset Australians who suffer from autism. It would be fair to say that for many, many others, Mr Morrison’s comments have been deeply hurtful.

Nicole Rogerson, the founder of Autism Awareness Australia, posted this pointed response to Mr Morrison. “Note to @ScottMorrisonMP This is what #blessed looks like. @ian_rogerson and I were actually were blessed with two beautiful boys (and Bob the dog) #NDIS #EveryAustralianCounts #auspol @AutismAwareAus@EveryAustralian

The organisation itself was even more scathing:

“Disgraceful comments by Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP during last night’s debate. ALL children are #Blessings. Your words speak volumes about how you perceive people with a #disability. Perhaps you should spend more time fixing and fully funding our NDIS, and less time counting your blessings.”

Dr Christy Clark:

“I can’t let that pass. I am beyond ‘blessed’ to have an autistic child. Autistic people are disabled by society and the fact that it is designed to meet the needs of (some) neurotypical people. They, themselves are freakin awesome. Unlike this comment, PM.”

Matt Burke:

“This is the moment Scott Morrison told a mother of a son with autism that he and Jen were “blessed” because he doesn’t have a child with disabilities. Harmful ignorance.”

Johnny Valkyrie (living with autism):

“The only blessing bestowed upon nondisabled people is the privilege they hold in society. We autistic people and our families are not burdened by our neurodiversity, we are obstructed by the systemic failures of governments and organisations that devalue us. If you are autistic in Australia and need some support, check out @AmazeAutismAU and their resources. You can also check in with friends, family, allies and other autistic people if you think it might help to talk things over.

Lori-Anne Brown:

“My son is autistic, and I’m extremely blessed by him. He is just coming into his teenage years, diagnosed late (let’s talk about costing for diagnosis and wait times) and NDIS told me at our first plan meeting last year that I had to pick between regular support from OT or speech. We couldn’t have both on a regular basis despite him needing both to “catch up”. All our funding covers is these two therapies on a monthly basis. (Despite needing it weekly) I was put through the ringer trying to get assisted technology to support his needs. We got $100 for that”.

Kristen Desmond:

“Apparently the PM is blessed to have had children who haven’t had to go through that? Seriously go through what being 4! Autism isn’t something u go through and pls don’t make it out to be bad. My autistic kids are awesome just as they r. #Politas #Auspol”.

And if you watched the debate, you would have heard Anthony Albanese talk about a woman who had been told by the NDIS that she would now have to re-use her colostomy bags. That woman was Elly Desmarchelier, a disability advocate who had this to say about Morrison’s comments:

 

 

Scott Morrison has accused his opponents of “twisting” his words in “bad faith” after he said he was “blessed” to have two daughters without disability while being questioned by a mother whose autistic son’s NDIS funding had been cut.

A disability advocate, Carly Findlay, said that same evening the remarks were “ableist” and indicated a belief by some parents “that they are lucky they/their children aren’t disabled”. “When the leader of the country says he’s blessed not to have disabled children, he saying disabled people are burdens, that our parents are unlucky,” she said. He should be a professional speaker and not make such callous remarks, he should be championing the rights of all Australians.”( Source The Guardian 21 April 2022 Paul Karp). Later that evening Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame had this to say about Morrison’s gaffe, “Autism blesses those of us who have it with the ability to spot fakes from a mile off.”

Early the next morning, Labor’s manager of opposition business in the Senate, Katy Gallagher, who has an autistic child, said she found the comments “really offending and quite shocking”. “It is something that people who have a disability, children with autism, it is a kind of response they get all the time,” she told Channel Seven (Source: Paul Karp, The Guardian, 21 April 2022; Seven Sunrise 21 April 2022).

Current Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott also tweeted that morning of 21 April 2022:

 

 

The timing of these social media criticisms are as follows:

  1. Matt Burke 7.55pm on 20 April 2022
  2. Dr Clark 8.13pm on 20 April 2022
  3. Lori-Anne Brown 9.26pm on 20 April 2022
  4. Kristen Desmond 9.36pm on 20 April 2022
  5. Elly Desmarchelier 10.10pm on 20 April
  6. Johny Valkyrie 10.41pm on 20 April 2022
  7. Grace Tame 11.54pm 20 April 2022
  8. Autism Awareness Aus 7.36am on 21 April 2022
  9. Senator Gallagher at about 8.00am on 21 April 2022
  10. Ms Roberson 8.43am on 21 April 2022
  11. Dylan Alcott 9.43am 21 April 2022

So, by 10.48am today, Mr Morrison’s communication or media advisors by virtue of what they do during a campaign would have been monitoring on social media and television the public reaction to Mr Morrison’s words, and these same campaign staff members would have been aware of not only the everyday Australian’s view of Mr Morrison’s words (careless or ignorant are interchangeable here), but also what such publicly recognised figures in Mr Alcott (as the present Australian of the Year), and Ms Tame (as the former Australian of the Year) had to say. Notwithstanding the criticisms being levelled at him by both people living with a disability, medical professionals or disability advocates views, Mr Morrison doubled down when he appeared on Sydney’s 2GB radio at 10.48 am, as Morrison stood by his words without making an apology (Source: The Sydney Morning Herald live newsfeed, 21 April 2022) saying these words over the radio in response to the criticisms being levelled at him:

‘Morrison told 2GB Radio that Catherine “didn’t take it that way”. “I was just simply saying it’s tough and I’m grateful that there are these hardships I and Jenny haven’t had to deal with.“ Mr Morrison then went on to say, “Every single child is a blessing … in my and Jenny’s case it took 14 years to have Abbey … then we were blessed with Lily. There’s no greater love than a parent has for a child and particularly a child who has special needs. It is a blessing. I was just simply in good faith trying to say, ‘I haven’t walked in your shoes, Catherine, I am not going to pretend to understand it as you do.’ Morrison also said others who had “jumped on” probably hadn’t “heard exactly what I said”.

The question is, did Mr Morrison talk to this mother, or is he relying on her not exploding in anger at him to interpret the situation that way?

In any event, even if Mr Morrison did speak to the mother named Catherine, once again, the problem is these people criticising him on social media and television breakfast news did hear what Mr Morrison had to say and they held a view which is very much different to Mr Morrison’s views. Further, the major issue which any person could interpret about Mr Morrison’s character is that he failed to listen to the people criticising him regarding what they were offended by, and for him to then say by the time of his 2GB radio appearance “I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry for any distress I have caused people.” Mr Morrison didn’t even apologise during his radio interview, even though he and his staffers would have been the position of knowing what Mr Alcott and Ms Tame as the current and former Australians of the Year had to say.

At about 1.00pm on 21 April 2022, after his marketing team must have had conniptions about his obdurate ways, Mr Morrison finally during a press conference apologised for the words he said the previous evening during debate:

“To the other point, I meant no offence by what I said last night but I accept that it has caused offence to people and I have been in contact today and I apologised directly to Dylan Alcott about that. I think people would also appreciate that I would have had no such intention of suggesting that anything other than every child is a blessing is true. Every single child is precious. And a blessing to every parent.”

This was the first mention of an apology by Mr Morrison for the words he chose to use during this debate, and I make this statement as I have studied Mr Morrison’s Twitter profile and I cannot find any earlier evidence of an apology. So, what is wrong with that you say? Well, the first problem I have with Mr Morrison’s behaviour is his inability to understand the feelings of other people, and despite what views he may have held about his words, he should have addressed this issue earlier, and definitely by 10.48am when he appeared on 2GB radio. The next problem I have with Mr Morrison is that his rambunctious attitude to the situation reflects his lack of compassion and humanity, character traits which are essential for a person to lead a country; there was no other reason than pure marketing repercussions that Mr Morrison could display his obdurate ways at 10.48am, only to then turn around at about 1.00pm and offer this belated apology. As I have stated earlier, when those words of protest commenced rolling out on social media (undoubtedly there are more but my source The Guardian reported a selection of the protests) from 7.55pm on 20 April 2022, Mr Morrison’s media team or staffers (call them what you may) would have been reporting back to Mr Morrison at some stage that evening there was a growing list of upset Australians in relation to the words he chose to use during the debate.

I am glad Mr Morrison finally apologised for the words he used last night during the debate, and yes, I believe it was only careless ignorance on his behalf when he uttered those words. I certainly don’t believe he spoke those words maliciously. However, the timeline of events suggests to me Mr Morrison’s apology was motivated by political pragmatism of losing votes, rather than true contrition for the distress he caused to so many Australians. Had he been motivated by contrition for hurting people’s feelings we should have witnessed an apology being made at the latest during his 2GB interview.

Mr Morrison’s behaviour over the past day is consistent with him not being fit to lead this country.

 

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