Prime Minister Scott Morrison wins two up, dodges war questions

The PM dodged questions after his defence minister warned Australia to ‘prepare for war’, taking out a win in two-up instead.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has finished off his trip to Darwin with a beer and a game of two up.

The PM received a warm welcome at Cazalys Palmerston Club, where he received the honour of kicking off the first round of two up as the first spinner.

Mr Morrison placed a $10 bet on heads, with an excited local eagerly putting her bet down for tails against the PM.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison tries his hand at two up. Picture: Supplied.

Scott Morrsion gets ready to throw the coin. Picture: supplied.

It took Mr Morrison a few tries to get his technique right, at first not spinning the coins and then having some of the coins falling out of the circle.

He got it right on his third try, with the PM winning his bet after the coins came up heads.

Mr Morrison then made his way around the club, meeting the locals while sipping on a schooner of Balter XPA.

The PM refused to answer questions about strong comments made by Defence Minister Peter Dutton this morning, with Mr Morrison quickly jumping in his car as reporters followed him out of the venue.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton issued a strong warning to Australians this morning, saying our country must “prepare for war”.

Speaking to Nine’s Today on Monday morning, Mr Dutton issued a strong warning to Australians, saying our country must “prepare for war”.

“The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and to be strong as a country. Not to cower, not to be on bended knee and be weak. That’s the reality,” he said.

“Curling up in a ball, pretending that nothing’s happening, saying nothing – that is not going to be in our long term interests and we should be honest about that.”

Defence Minister Peter Dutton issued a strong warning to Australians this morning, saying our country must “prepare for war”. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Dutton even went as far as to compare Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler.

”We have to be realistic that people like Hitler and others aren’t just a figment of our imagination or that they’re consigned to history,” he told the program.

”We have in President Putin at the moment, someone who is willing to kill women and children, and that’s happening in 2022.

”It’s a replay in part of what was happening in the 1930s.”

Mr Dutton also said China was currently on a “deliberate course” and that Australia had to “stare down any act of aggression” from countries that threaten our peace.

Mr Morrison had earlier offered a grim warning of his own in his Anzac Day Dawn Service address.

Speaking at Darwin’s Bicentennial Park, Mr Morrison referenced the ongoing violence occurring in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister quoted General Jim Molan, saying “It takes a nation to defend a nation”.

“What ultimately matters in that task is a people with a fierce and protective love of their nation and of their liberty, a love home, family, community, and country. A willingness to live for all of these things that if necessary, to sacrifice to something far greater than ourselves,” he said.

“This morning, far away from here the people of Ukraine are doing exactly that.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered a grim warning on Monday. Picture: Tim Hunter

Mr Morrison said Australia stands with the people of Ukraine, before warning that our world was “changing”.

“War does strike Europe again. Coercion troubles our region once more,” he said.

“Democratic free peoples are standing together again.

“In facing this world, we must remember again, for it is only then that we truly appreciate what these times require of us all.”

Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Richard Marles, also mentioned the situation in Ukraine in his Dawn Service address.

“On this Anzac Day particularly can we remember those in Ukraine and particularly Ukrainian Australians right around the country,” he said

Mr Morrison warned that our world was “changing”. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We meet on this day, every year to acknowledge the service of those who have worn our nation’s uniform and to commemorate the sacrifices, the ultimate sacrifice, that more than 100,000 Australians have made while wearing it.”

The Prime Minister afterwards attended an Anzac Day parade in Darwin.

In his closing remarks, Mr Morrison remembered the words of Australia’s 19th Prime Minister Sir John Gorton.

“He described ANZAC DAY as a day when we look back and we look forward,” he said.

Mr Morrison quoted General Jim Molan, saying “It takes a nation to defend a nation”. Picture: Jason Edwards

“He also said that if our fallen could speak to us, they would say this. ‘We bought your freedom with our lives. So take this freedom guarded, as we have guarded, use it as we can no longer use it. And with it is a foundation built, build a world in which meanness and poverty, tyranny and hate, have no existence.

“Do not fail them.’ And on this sacred day, the citizens of our country who face the challenges of our time of our generation, pledge solemnly together, that we will not.”

Originally published as Prime Minister Scott Morrison wins two up, dodges war questions