Jenny Morrison made the Prime Minister look like a human handbag

Australians want strong leadership and good decision-making and they aren’t getting it from their Prime Minister or his wife.

Who will you be voting for in the next federal election? Scott Morrison or his wife?

Sunday night’s 60 Minutes program, designed to reinforce Morrison’s status as a likeable family guy, spent more time showcasing his wife Jenny.

It left our Prime Minister looking like a nodding buffoon, not a strong leader.

“Scott totally gets things,” Jenny said at one point, while her husband grinned mutely next to her like a human handbag.

Such shows are a common pre-election ploy designed to present our country’s leaders as loveable family members rather than ruthless political strategists.

This one shows how desperate the federal Coalition is getting.

Scott Morrison has played up his family role more than most leaders over the years, famously referencing his wife’s views when he responded to allegations that Brittany Higgins was raped in Parliament House.

Wheeling out Jenny so prominently at this point shows he is immune to the widespread criticism at the time; that he shouldn’t need his wife to tell him how serious the issue of sexual assault was.

The Morrisons appearance on 60 Minutes showed how desperate the Coalition is getting.

In Sunday’s interview with The Today Show’s Karl Stefanovic, Jenny jumped in to offer her views on a range of topics more appropriate for her husband to comment on.

When asked about their infamous Hawaii holiday at the beach while Australians were losing their lives in catastrophic bushfires, Jenny said people “want you to be seen to be doing something all the time”.

She admitted it was a mistake to go away at that time, but said they did it for their girls. This may be true, but it’s not enough to justify a major lapse in political judgment.

When asked about Higgins’ alleged rape in Parliament House, Jenny again focused solely on their daughters, saying she would want to know “our girls are safe” if they worked in parliament.

She also took another swipe at sexual abuse survivor and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, who was criticised for failing to smile obediently at a recent function with the Prime Minister.

Jenny noted that it was “disappointing because we were welcoming her into our home”.

Again, she mentioned the Morrison girls, saying she wanted them to be fierce, strong and independent, but also to have manners.

Jenny Morrison said she was disappointed with Grace Tame’s behaviour. Picture: Gary Ramage

In doing so, Jenny is forgetting her own manners. She’s also forgetting that sexual abuse survivors like Tame have every right not to smile when they don’t feel like it.

Sexual servitude has long depended on women putting the feelings of men before their own.

These are serious issues which should be addressed by the Prime Minister, not his wife.

Using Jenny to once again undermine Tame and Higgins was a gross misstep, and further entrenches the view that Morrison is not across these important issues.

Jenny, at every turn, removes any broader political context from issues and reduces them into a family matter. The “psycho” text messages referring to Morrison which caused such a wide political furore were bad, she said, because they were about “someone I really cared about”. Again, their girls are brought into it, with Jenny noting that they “are going to high school”. The insinuation is that Morrison’s political opponents should be looking out for his daughters instead of doing their job.

At times the interview seemed too staged. Jenny was asked her husband’s worst trait and answered that he was “married to the job” and messy.

Jenny insisted that her role is not to make policy – as if anyone ever thought it was.

Instead, she said she tells her husband “how I feel about things”.

She then conceded that “running the country is incredibly important and I get that”.

Using Jenny to undermine Tame and Brittany Higgins was a misstep. Picture: Getty Images

Again, it’s something she shouldn’t need to say, but clearly does because of her myopic, inward, family-focused gaze. This is what you’d expect from a wife and mother, but not from someone having major influence on a national leader.

The rest of us who struggled to get rapid tests, or timely access to vaccinations, or to visit desperate, lonely people stuck in substandard aged care homes, don’t need to be reminded that the top job is important. We know it is.

If Jenny is his “secret weapon” – as Stefanovic called her – then it doesn’t say much for his chance of re-election.

“Will she be enough to save him?” Stefanovic asks in the show.

No, I’d say. She definitely is not.

The latest Newspoll released on Sunday shows the Liberal-led coalition’s primary vote remains on a post-election record low of 34 per cent, with Labor staying at 41 per cent.

Electors want more than curry nights at Kirribilli, ukulele playing and prayers from Scott Morrison.

They want – and deserve – strong leadership and good decision-making.

They want Covid to be better managed and controlled in aged care. They want vaccine rollouts to be swift and efficient. They want a strong economy and protection for those unfairly impacted by the pandemic. They want respect for sexual abuse survivors and they want a parliament that’s safe for every single occupant.

They’re not getting these things from Scott Morrison – or his wife.