Scott Morrison says he won’t answer the ABC’s questions on his ties to QAnon

Scott Morrison has slammed the ABC after it examined his close friend’s involvement in QAnon and claims he said he could influence the PM.

The Prime Minister has slammed the ABC’s “baseless conspiracy theories” over claims he was influenced by old family friends linked to the QAnon cult to refer to “ritual sex abuse” or that he planned to holiday with the couple in Hawaii during the bushfires.

The ABC’s Four Corners program examined the QAnon cult on Monday night and the involvement of a Sydney man Tim Stewart, whose activities have divided his own family and prompted his own sister to dob him into the national terror hotline.

Mr Morrison and his wife, Jenny have been family friends with Mr Stewart and his wife Lynelle since the 1990s.

Jenny Morrison previously employed Lynelle Stewart at Kirribilli in a taxpayer-funded job. Both women were bridesmaids at each other’s weddings and Mr Stewart has posted pictures of himself at Kirribilli on social media.

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Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, has refused to answer questions about his links to Tim Andrews and QAnon.

According to Four Corners, the Stewart family also told Mr Stewart’s mother that they planned to holiday in Hawaii with the Morrison family in 2019.

“Tim and Lynelle were just sharing that there was a holiday planned in Hawaii, and my impression was that there was a holiday planned in Hawaii, and my impression was it was going to be quite a few families, which would include many who’ve been going to Hawaii for years,’’ Val Stewart said.

“Scott and Jenny were going to go as well. That was … that was mentioned. Scott and Jenny were going to go.”

Twitter photo of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny on their Hawaiian holiday.

Four Corners reported that the Prime Minister was forced to cut short his trip after a public backlash that he had secretly gone on holidays during the bushfires, on the same day as Tim Stewart’s family flew to Hawaii.

News.com.au has contacted the Prime Minister’s office for comment. Government sources claimed the Morrison family had not planned to holiday with the couple despite both flying to Hawaii around the same time.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said he did not plan to answer questions raised by the ABC program.

“The government will not be responding to the baseless conspiracy theories being peddled by Four Corners,’’ the Prime Minister’s spokesman told news.com.au.

A mural depicting Prime Minister Scott Morrison wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, orange lei and Santa Claus hat while holding a cocktail by artist Scott Marsh on a wall in Sydney.

The ABC’s Four Corners program also canvassed longstanding clams that an old family friend of Scott Morrison boasted in text messages to QAnon supporters that he could get the Prime Minister to include the term “ritual sex abuse” in a major speech and planned to holiday with the Prime Minister and his wife during the couple’s bushfire holiday in Hawaii.

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Scott Morrison, Jenny Morrison and Lynelle Stewart (middle). Picture: Supplied

Mr Morrison then used the term “ritual sex abuse” in a formal apology to sex abuse victims.

But speaking on background, government sources insisted the use of the term came from a victim of abuse, not Mr Stewart.

Private messages on the encrypted app Signal, which have been released by Eliahi Priest also reveal that Mr Stewart had been boasting he had ways of encouraging the use of the term “ritual abuse” in the Prime Minister’s formal apology.

Four Corners said the Prime Minister had refused to say on the record if he had been influenced by Mr Stewart to include the reference.

“Despite being asked repeatedly, the Prime Minister has not answered Four Corners’ questions on the record about whether Tim Stewart passed on information to him about the wording of the apology,’’ the report stated.

The estranged family of Mr Stewart told Four Corners that in light of his friendship with the Prime Minister, his proximity to QAnon was such a concern that Mr Stewart’s sister reported the man to the national security hotline.

Mr Stewart often celebrated his friendship with the Prime Minister on social media with posts of the pair together at Kirribilli House.

However, Mr Stewart told Four Corners any suggestion he supported violence like the US Capitol riots was “nonsense”.

“I am too busy to read questions relating to the nonsense that’s been put out there, which are just hit pieces,” he said.

He has previously told The Guardian that it was completely wrong to suggest he was influencing the Prime Minister.

“I have never spoken to Scott about anything of a political nature. I’m not an adviser. The idea of me talking to him about this … it’s just not true,” he said.

Mr Stewart’s estranged sister Karen Stewart, who is a former candidate for the Greens, has been open about her concerns regarding her brother’s views on social media for years.

“Tim believes that the world has really been taken over by satanic paedophiles, or Luciferian paedophiles,” she told Four Corners.

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Mr Morrison has accused Four Corners of carrying out ‘a politically motivated slur’ with the episode. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

At a press conference in Canberra last week, the Prime Minister criticised the ABC for pursuing the story and said he wanted to make it clear he had no links with the cult whatsoever.

“I find it deeply offensive that there would be any suggestion that I would have any involvement or support for such a dangerous organisation,” Mr Morrison said.

“I clearly do not.”

The long-awaited program was delayed earlier this month amid a storm of controversy and complaints from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The ABC’s managing director, David Anderson has previously rejected reports that he “pulled” the program, prepared by multi-Walkley Award-winning journalist Louise Milligan.

It follows Ms Milligan’s high-profile defamation battle with former Attorney-General Christian Porter that he has now discontinued and will not pursue further.

The ABC news director, Gaven Morris is understood to have “upwardly referred” the episode to the managing director ahead of his appearance at Senate estimates.

It also emerged that the ABC’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, was asked to put a series of questions to Mr Morrison at a press conference by Four Corners but declined to do so.

His refusal to assist his Four Corners colleagues and details of the conversations between the ABC’s Canberra bureau and Four Corners was then leaked to newspapers.

Probyn declined to comment on the claims.

News.com.au has contacted both Mr Stewart and his wife Lynelle for comment.

Originally published as Scott Morrison says he won’t answer the ABC’s questions on his ties to QAnon