Annika Smethurst: No end in sight for ScoMo’s 100 days of hell
The first 100 days of Scott Morrison’s prime ministership ended as it began, with chaos and disunity. There are two fewer MPs sitting on the government’s benches and the Liberal Party seems hellbent on blowing itself up, Annika Smethurst writes.
Judging a new leader on their first 100 days in office was first used in France, where the “cent jours” described the period between Napoleon’s return to Paris from exile and his final defeat at Waterloo.
The 100-day yardstick then became a popular measure for modern leaders after 1933 when US President Franklin Roosevelt set himself a timeline to curb the economic suffering during the Great Depression.
In modern day politics it is used as a barometer to assess a new administration’s ability to implement new policies while avoiding instability.
Using that measure the Morrison government has failed on both fronts.
The first 100 days of Scott Morrison’s prime ministership ended as it began, with chaos and disunity.
The Prime Minister reaches this milestone today, without the honeymoon period.
Instead, there are two fewer MPs sitting on the government’s benches and the Liberal Party seems hellbent on blowing itself up.
To Morrison’s credit he is persisting with the zeal of schoolchild at recess. His enthusiasm and love for the job is evident but it is unlikely to be enough to pull the government out of its poll doldrums.
It has been impossible for the new PM to have clear air. Morrison’s policy shifts, including dumping plans to raise the pension age and a $4.6 billion peace deal with non-government schools, were overshadowed by internal issues.
The Government’s media team had hoped the story would lead bulletins on the nightly news, but it was toppled by the resignation of Chisholm MP Julia Banks. Labor should pack up and go home.
In October, we were given a rare glimpse of what could have been when Morrison delivered a national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. It was an insight into the depth of his character which was rarely on show in the dry portfolios of Treasury and Immigration where he built his career. But it was nothing compared to the hero’s welcome reserved for Julia Gillard. Another day lost.
Nationally the Liberal Party is losing support faster than rats leave a sinking ship as it struggles to appeal to younger voters and women.
Five months out from a federal election there’s almost nothing Morrison can do to fix these structural problems. He will have to do his best with the hand he was dealt.
Morrison may have relatively clean hands after the August leadership spill but it hasn’t helped him unite warring sides within his own party.
The disastrous state election result in Victoria has also triggered further panic within the government which means MPs are likely to spend the next five months focusing on their own job security rather than working for us.
It’s the sort of self-interest we saw from the Labor Party in 2013 as it resorted to simply “saving the furniture”.
Morrison will arrive back in Australia tomorrow for one of only a handful of Parliamentary sitting weeks scheduled before the next election.
The government no longer has the luxury of focusing on policy, it just needs to simply stay together. If the first 100 days provided a sneak peek of the next 100 days, it’s a scenario the government would not want to repeat.
If Israel had listened to Labor, there would be no ceasefire deal
The Albanese Labor government, at every step of the way, has sought to frustrate or prevent the conditions that brought this ceasefire about, writes Dave Sharma.
A win on trains, but Minns still facing a trifecta of trouble
The train strike, a lack of action on housing, and his decision to back Clover Moore’s crusade against the Moore Park Golf Course suggests Chris Minns’ management is longer cutting it, writes James O’Doherty.