Opinion: Robert Schwarten says voters awake to Morrison charade

The 2019 federal election campaign was dominated by coal in Queensland. But former Labor state MP Robert Schwarten says this time around this could be very different.

When the late Senator Ron McCauliffe took then prime minister Gough Whitlam to Lang Park in 1972, the crowd booed him. Gough’s response was: “McCauliffe, never take me to a place where you are so obviously unpopular again.”

The current PM Scott Morrison, as bereft of humour as a monument is of brains, has had no such witty ­response. The mob booed John ­Howard at a State of Origin. The mob doesn’t discriminate – if you’re on the nose, they boo.

Similarly there have been positive public interactions, such as John Howard’s morning walks in a Wallaby jersey, that turned sour as critics passing by gave him his pedigree. On one notable occasion as Mr Howard walked along the banks of the Torrens River in Adelaide a kayaker paddled up and told him what he thought.

A man confronts Scott Morrison at a Newcastle hotel. Picture: Damian Shaw

The ever popular Magic Morrison master of the stunt, friend to all, found out that turning up at the bushfires unannounced backfired, but he has ploughed on.

Always craving coverage, he was in Tasmania holding up a live crayfish last week. The media asked those nearby what they thought?

Most answered politely, but one bloke wound down the car window and yelled “he’s a liar and he doesn’t care about the working man”.

It was also telling when Morrison flew into Rocky to match the doubling of funding to Beef Expo promised weeks ago by Anthony Albanese, who has been here many times in the past few years. Morrison was here for about as long as I would last at the crease fronting the late and great wobble wizard Warnie. He could not get away quick enough.

No doubt he had other things to do – he’s a busy PM. It’s not unusual for a PM to drop by for a few minutes in a seat they know is their platinum ticket to the Lodge. In my lifetime, they have all done it, but of course when they reckon it might make a difference they spend a night or two here.

Maybe he also knows that his MP here refuses to answer questions on accountability and he is in no position to do so either. It is an on-the-record fact that Senator Pauline Hanson handed over an authorised federal government cheque to a local club and, according to senate estimates, some of that $23m is in the sports club bank.

Yet Michelle Landry has a huge electronic billboard claiming she got the money.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with an angry member of the public at Newcastle’s Edgeworth Tavern. Picture: Damian Shaw

Similarly a palliative hospice needing $7m got assistance from Ms Hanson and the money was delivered. This time Ms Hanson squared up the three-term MP labelling her “lazy”.

One question Morrison would not want to get is why his mob are part-funding projects that do not meet funding requirements here on a regular basis to save Ms Landry’s hide.

Given his blank refusal to fund floodproofing of homes in Labor electorates that is one question he ­really doesn’t want.

Voters here know a lot about floods and recall the efforts of Labor governments to rebuild homes to withstand them.

Mr Morrison has placed huge stake on his family values and integrity. But those closest to him say you could trust him as far as you could kick a grand piano and now the mob have cottoned on.

Ms Landry, sitting on the unenvious, unmoved primary vote of about 30 per cent needs a popular PM to get her over the line so his slide from grace does not help. She also needs One Nation, which has unfailingly supported her. Given Pauline Hanson’s attack on Morrison in the Senate it makes for an interesting test.

Unlike most long-term members, Ms Landry has not impressed any more locals than she did a decade ago. Her reliance on preferences and scare tactics has kept her there. With mining families telling me they will put her last and advising their friends to do likewise I still say it’s a seat to watch. Maybe she’s heard the saying “don’t warm your backside on a fire that’s going out” and told Morrison to keep away!

That’s what the Morrison government has been able to do all along and I think the indicators are locally there to suggest the audience has woken up that it’s all a charade.

Coal, the evil of the 2019 election – that black stuff that Morrison shoved under the Opposition noses in parliament – is not even mentioned.

That is except for “Fluoro” Matt Canavan – who daubed coal dust on his pristine miner’s outfit last time he was here, but is now down in the dumps because The Greens are not holding their rally here until after the election.

In a tantrum worthy of a kid whose push bike was ridden over by a steamroller, he blasted them for being “gutless”.

ROBERT SCHWARTEN IS A FORMER BEATTIE GOVERNMENT MINISTER