Scrolling through Scott Morrison’s twitter feed shows just how ridiculous politics in Australia has become.
Do we really need ProMo to tweet about, and attend, every single sporting event going on in the country? Do we need to see photos of him having a meal with his family? Or perched in a truck going broom broom? Or sitting on a jet ski on the sand? Do we really need four tweets showing him at the Bathurst 500?
How many times must Scott interrupt football training at the Clontarf Academies for photo shoots? He visited on July 18, and then again on August 29 where, whilst cooking snorkers, he told us that he had helped set up the Academy at Endeavour High School many years ago. Since it only began in 2015, ‘many’ is a stretch and Scott played no part other than to attend an announcement by then NSW Premier Mike Baird.
(Perhaps someone should mention to Scott that when you join in with training, you really should wear shorts rather than long trousers, and take off your baseball cap and glasses.)
The choreographed videos of Scott speaking while walking through the parliament courtyard, folders under arm, are excruciatingly staged to make it look like he is busily rushing off to work. Compare the performance on August 15 to the repeat performance on September 18.
Hard hats and high-vis vests are in abundance as Scott tours the country visiting small businesses in marginal electorates, though one might wonder why they are necessary when you are standing out in a paddock.
On September 20, Scott tweeted “Sorry that I can’t be there tonight, boys. But as you can see, you’re always on my mind” and linked to a video showing his non-stop “go the sharks” in every interview he gave. But, as pointed out in Junkee, Scott’s love of the Sharks seems to be more a recent politically motivated move than historical loyal attachment.
Whilst a great deal of time, thought, energy and money go into the marketing of the man, policy development languishes. Scott flies all over the country for photo shoots but cannot find the time to come up with strategies to address the real problems facing this country.
They don’t have time to read reports or expert advice – we’ll just do whatever Donald Trump does. Cut taxes? Sure. Pull out of Paris? No need because we aren’t bound to honour our word. Move our embassy to Jerusalem? Great way to create a problem. Pull out of Iran nuclear deal? Well if Donald did then it must be the best course of action. Much easier to follow than to have principled well-thought out ideas based on evidence and goals.
Back in 2007, Julie Bishop criticised Julia Gillard for doing a photo shoot for The Australian Weekend Magazine.
“You’re not a celebrity, you’re an elected representative, you’re a member of parliament. You’re not Hollywood and I think that when people overstep that line they miss the whole point of that public role.”
(As it turns out, when Julie got her chance to saunter down the red carpet and grace the covers of magazines, she changed her mind about it “not being my style”.)
They tell us that politicians work very hard with long hours yet they seem to have a great deal of time to attend social functions and write books.
Some dignity and respect for the office would be appreciated far more than the reality show of ProMo’s personal life.
Instead of accepting free tickets to attend sporting and cultural events, instead of posing for photographs, instead of marketing your family, instead of calling yourself by a nickname and putting your arm around anyone you are standing next to, how about you get back to the office and do the job you are being paid to do.
