Liberals in Power: Scott Morrison remembers his worst day as PM

February 1, 2020, was when Covid first forced Scott Morrison to close Australia’s borders, but that’s not why the former PM still tears up when he thinks about that day.

It was one of the most challenging days of his prime ministership and one that still brings Scott Morrison to tears.

On February 1, 2020, as Covid first forced him to close Australia’s borders, an unspeakable tragedy struck two Sydney families in the form of a drugged driver who killed their four children.

Speaking about his “dear friends” the Abdallahs and Sakrs, Mr Morrison became emotional during a wide-ranging interview with Chris Kenny for new Sky News documentary, Liberals in Power.

When asked about the day the Abdallah siblings Sienna, eight, Angelina, 12 and Antony, 13, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, died, the former PM struggled to contain his emotions.

“I’ll never forget that day, it was actually the day my dear friends Danny and Leila Abdallah and Bridget Sakr lost their kids in that terrible accident over in Oatlands, same day … sorry,” he said.

Scott Morrison tears up while talking to journast Chris Kenny for the Liberals in Power documentary. Picture: Supplied

As the Abdallahs were learning of their children’s deaths, Mr Morrison was making perhaps the biggest decision of his career — closing Australia off from the world and locking up our borders.

“I’m sorry about that Chris,” he said as he was overcome. “That was a bit unexpected … it just triggered me.”

Daniel Abdallah lost children Antony, Angelina and Sienna the horrific crash that shocked Sydney.

While Mr Morrison didn’t know the families at the time, they became friends later as they showed immense grace and forgiveness to the man who killed their children.

“They had every right to be furious, they had every right to be vindictive, they had every right to lash out and they chose a different path. And I know why they did because we share the same faith,” he said.

Mr Morrison’s recollections come as The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the Abdallahs have taken even more steps to forgiving the man who killed their children.

The Abdallahs will tell about 500 people gathered at the Australian National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament House in Canberra on Monday that they are in contact with the driver, Samuel Davidson, who is serving a 20-year sentence.

Mr Abdallah has even visited him, while Mrs Abdallah also plans to do so.

Sky News Australia journalist Chris Kenny.

Mr Abdallah went to confront the driver at an organised visit in jail and didn’t know how things would go.

“I shook his hand and he just fell to his knees, put his head on the floor and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry I took your kids’,” he said.

“He was crying and I was crying … you just see nobody won in this.

“I was at a crossroads in my life and the hardest question as a parent is you can lose your whole family with bitterness and seek revenge or you can keep half of your family and find forgiveness.”

In the interview, Mr Morrison also delves into the highs and lows of his time in office, including his fateful trip to Hawaii during the Black Summer bushfires.

In the Liberals in Power documentary, which will air in two parts on November 13 and 14, Mr Morrison revealed his true feelings about his decision to holiday in Hawaii as Australia burned.

While he accepts people were “disappointed”, he pointed fingers at others for making it “personal”.

“At the time we left we had made sure that arrangements were in place to deal with what was happening at the time but this was monstrously politicised,” he told Kenny.

“I accept that people would have felt disappointed about that and I get that, but equally, the way it was accelerated, the way it was exploited was quite vicious, it was quite personal, and that was allowed to happen and sanctioned, I have no doubt, at the top of the Labor Party.”

And on the moment when Mr Morrison said “I don’t hold a hose mate”, he said: “It was a careless phrase, and I can’t complain about it, they were my words.”

Liberals in Power will air on Sky News Australia on November 13 and 14, from 8pm AEDT