Scott Morrison’s attitude shows he simply doesn’t get it

The former prime minister’s contrite and condescending performance was a further reminder of why he’s no longer our PM.

OPINION

Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s defiant press conference on Wednesday was a strong reminder of why the Australian public voted him out.

In a presser he called in relation to the bombshell that he’d assigned himself as minister to five portfolios in a secret power grab, Mr Morrison was contrite and at times condescending.

He vehemently defended his decision, saying he needed “emergency powers” due to the Covid-19 pandemic, even though some of those portfolios had nothing or little to do with emergency Covid measures.

Australia's former prime minister Scott Morrison speaks to media during a press conference in Sydney on August 17, 2022. Picture: Steven Saphore / AFP

Mr Morrison started the presser, not by addressing the issue at hand but instead by tooting his own horn about how well he handled the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that every day he’s approached by small business owners thanking him, with many of them saying: “Look, quietly, I know there’s a lot of people giving you a lot of flack about a lot of stuff, but thanks for what you did because my business is still here.”

This kind of showboating is what we came to expect from Mr Morrison during his leadership – always happy to accept praise but in complete denial when it comes to criticism.

And while Australia may have come out of the pandemic better than some countries, it’s difficult to know whether this was down to his government, state governments, luck or the Aussie public being so keen to stick to rules.

Mr Morrison then took offence to the term “co-ministering” insisting that he hadn’t acted in that capacity so it wasn’t the case. This is complete semantics on his behalf. If he didn’t intend to “co-minister” the portfolios then why did he assign himself to them?

Mr Morrison did admit that the ministers didn’t know he’d assigned himself to their portfolios, something that shows a complete lack of transparency in a democratic cabinet government.

“The fact that ministers were unaware of these things is actually proof of my lack of interference or intervention in any of their activities,” he justified.

The basis of Mr Morrison’s argument seemed to be that no one could possibly understand what it was like to be PM at the time.

“It might be puzzling but that may be as a result of not having walked in my shoes … and understood the urgency and the nature of the circumstances at the time. You’re standing on the shore after the fact. I was steering the ship in the middle of the tempest,” Mr Morrison said of himself.

Mr Morrison, who is still MP for Cook, seems to have gone from being overly involved in every aspect of politics to wanting no involvement. His attitude today made it seem like he just doesn’t care.

Mr Morrison called the press conference and then behaved dismissive and contrite. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire

There have been calls for Mr Morrison to resign from this position, including from former home affairs minister Karen Andrews.

“I am going to ask him to resign and leave Parliament,’’ she said. “I have nothing to say to him.

“This is totally unacceptable. For a prime minister to behave in this manner undermines everything that a federal government constitutionally should stand for.”

But Mr Morrison remains steadfast about his position as MP.

“These issues don’t relate to my role as the member for Cook and I will continue to serve the member – as the member for Cook for the people of Cook with the best of my ability which I continue to do today,” said Mr Morrison

He might still be an MP but after today’s power grab, it’s a relief that Mr Morrison is no longer PM.

Riah Matthews is the commissioning editor for news.com.au.

Originally published as Scott Morrison’s attitude shows he simply doesn’t get it