Scott Morrison shouldn’t have left Hawaii confession to Jenny

Scott Morrison was happy to sit with a gentle smile on his face as Jenny answered this tough question. But it shouldn’t have been left to his wife.

COMMENT

Watching 60 Minutes on Sunday night, it was hard to avoid the conclusion that this is the smartest thing Scott Morrison has done in a long, long time.

Jenny Morrison was authentic, real, funny, fierce and likeable.

She is also most importantly capable of articulating all of the things the Prime Minister cannot say: including criticising child sex abuse survivor Grace Tame for her “manners.”

It is a simple truth that in family homes across Australia, a galaxy far, far away from the outrage factory of Twitter that there are many voters, including older female voters, who will agree with her.

And that’s the reason the Prime Minister was happy enough to sit there with a gentle smile on his face while she did the spade work.

Why wouldn’t he? The 60 Minutes interview was an exercise in providing permission to those who think Grace Tame went too far, and to feel terribly sorry for the Morrisons.

There’s no doubt there’s good reasons to feel empathy for them as human beings, including in relation to vile attacks about their family and their faith.

But am I alone in regarding it as incredibly unchivalrous that the Prime Minister is also happy to let his wife take the blame for Hawaii?

Jenny Morrison was authentic, real, funny, fierce and likeable during a 60 Minutes exclusive.

Two years ago, when voters erupted with fury over the family’s Hawaiian holiday as bushfires burned across Australia, the Prime Minister was quick to gently shift the blame for his decisions for simply trying to be a good dad.

“I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time,” he said in a statement.

The Prime Minister then followed up with an interview on 2GB where he explained, as a dad, he didn’t want to let his family down.

This was the interview that he also offered his classic “not my job, mate” defence that “I don’t hold a hose, mate.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time in Australia on our holidays as well. We had planned to spend it down on the south coast, as we usually did, but we had to bring it forward as I said, because of those commitments we had in India and Japan. So we had to tell the girls we wouldn’t be spending as much time down there,’’ he said.

In other words, he had a planned holiday that got cancelled. Any parent can understand that.

“So in return, I tried to give them a bit of a surprise and take them here. So that’s what I think dads try and do when if they can when they’ve been working hard all year and I know there are lots of dads and mums out there who work hard all year and try and treat their kids this time of year and that’s what I was just trying to do.”

On Sunday night, he finally got Jenny Morrison to back him up. It was her fault they went to Hawaii. Her decision.

The Prime Minister sat mute and nodded sagely as Jenny Morrison took the blame.

Ms Morrison apologised for going on a family holiday to Hawaiia as bushfires burned across Australia

“I am more than sorry,’’ she said. “If we disappointed. And not if, we did.”

Her apology was genuine, her regret etched all over her face. Scott Morrison nodded, as if he was some innocent bystander to this decision.

“Did we make the right decision? I thought I was making the right decision for my kids. I obviously was wrong,” she recalled.

Even if that’s true, the Prime Minister shouldn’t have let her do it. He should have stepped in and said ultimately it was my decision. Because it was.

Instead, the Prime Minister’s reacted to this listicle of the personal pronoun with couple of a “mms” and “yep.”

After this article was first published, the Prime Minister’s office got in touch to insist that Mr Morrison did have more to say about his role in Hawaii in a separate one-one-one with Karl Stefanovic that hit the cutting room floor.

It would be fascinating to hear what he had to say. But for now all we have is his noddies as Mrs Morrison insists it was her error.

Is this for real? It wasn’t Jenny Morrison’s decision for the Prime Minister to leave the country in the middle of the bushfires, it was his.

It wasn’t Jenny Morrison’s decision to get his office to refuse to answer questions about whether he was in Hawaii, it was his.

And it was his decision to push out the idea that he was just trying to be a good dad, instead of saying it was my decision and I take full and sole responsibility for it.

And of course, it was his decision to agree to a lengthy 60 Minutes program where she took the blame.

Jenny Morrison is a strong, independent woman. She made her own decisions to do that too and that’s fine.

But it was unedifying to watch the Prime Minister tell us that it’s “his job” and “not his family’s” while outsourcing the Hawaii crime scene clean up to his long suffering wife.

It was also deviously brilliant. And it was done for a simple political reason: it just might work.

Originally published as Scott Morrison shouldn’t have left Hawaii confession to Jenny