Scott Morrison blasted over RAT, Covid response on return from Christmas break

Scott Morrison has copped it from Aussies today for finally fronting up at a press conference following a week-long Christmas break.

Scott Morrison has called an early national cabinet meeting to address ballooning Covid cases after a week-long Christmas break.

The PM’s last official media conference was on December 22 where he said the Covid cases “don’t necessarily present the challenge” in the nation’s battle against Omicron.

The father-of-two went to ground after that appearance, reappearing online to post a Christmas message and create a TikTok account.

According to Covidlive on December 22, there were 264,917 cases across the country, by his return on Wednesday, there were 341,406.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / Dylan Robinson

The rocketing case numbers and questions over state regulations prompted some of the Prime Minister’s critics to draw comparisons to when Mr Morrison and his family travelled to Hawaii for a holiday during the black summer bushfires.

The hashtag #ScottyDoesNothing started trending shortly after the PM’s appearance, which saw Mr Morrison flag which changes to the current Covid model he would like to see while maintaining that pressure on testing facilities was a state-by-state issue.

Also, not my fault the states are responsible for everything #ScottyDoesNothing

— Paul Meek (@PaulMeekPerth) December 29, 2021

Is it that time of year already. When the head of our country, Scott Morrison, goes missing in a crisis?#auspol#ScottyDoesNothing#ScottyThePathologicalLiarpic.twitter.com/q41HyW2mBL

— Dave (@Dave_White69) December 28, 2021

#ScottyDoesNothing
How good is a PM who goes all in for needles in the strawberries with an over the top Presidential response , but when a country is hit by a Covid crisis and a vaccine rollout he goes missing . PRIORITIES !!!

— Phillip Riley (@philmupp1) December 28, 2021

Morrison's main contributions through this whole pandemic has been to move goalposts and change definitions to deflect criticisms of him doing too little, too late. All spin, no substance. Does more damage than good. #ScottyDoesNothing

— Patrick Turner (@pjturner) December 29, 2021

Discussing potential changes to the definition of a close contact, he told reporters: “If one of my kids Abby or Lily got it or of course, if Jenny or any of the household staff here got it then we would find ourselves in that situation and I would be a close contact.

“If I went down to a restaurant down the road and I happened to pop in and get some takeaway and there was a case there, I would not be a close contact. I would not then have to isolate for the arrangement sitting under a close contact.”

He added a positive Covid case should be released from isolation with a negative antigen test after just six days, mirroring the model used in the UK.

Scott Morrison while on holiday in Hawaii. Picture: Twitter.

Scott Morrison announced an emergency national cabinet. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The PM may have wished he followed more of the Covid measures from the motherland after it was revealed the AstraZeneca vaccine may last for life.

Elsewhere in today’s press conference, Mr Morrison addressed the growing crisis of a lack of supply for Rapid Antigen Tests.

Victoria announced it had secured the delivery of 34 million tests on Wednesday, while NSW scrambles to find more of the items.

The Prime Minister hinted they may spend to acquire more tests.

“There’s many other supplies that are available in the private market right now, which can also be drawn on,” he said.

“And so this will be an issue that will run over the full course of this year. And the production of these tests is a bit different to vaccines in there’s many more suppliers. So we’re very active in the market, have been for many, many months.”

He also said the issue of purchasing the tests would typically be a state government responsibility.

However these comments did not go down well on social media.

“FFS Donald Trump ordered millions of rapid antigen tests and shipped them to the states over a year ago. Scott Morrison just thinking about ordering a few now,“ one Twitter user said.

“So what plans did Scott Morrison make in order for the country to be able to live with Covid? Efficient vaccine rollout? Quarantine facilities? RAT kits? Oh wait,” another added.