Scott Morrison’s decision to cut his holiday short is an admission he made a mistake

Scott Morrison’s decision to cut his Hawaii holiday short and return to Australia tomorrow is an implicit admission of what we all knew already.

Sam Clench

@SamClench

4 min read

December 21, 2019 - 9:07AM

ANALYSIS

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to cut his holiday short and return to Australia is an implicit admission that he made a mistake when he flew off to Hawaii unannounced earlier this week.

Few Australians have a problem with the Prime Minister taking leave around Christmas to spend time with his family.

Bolstering his case here is the fact that he has two diplomatic trips scheduled in January, followed by the return of parliament in early February. So there really wasn’t any other time for him to squeeze in a holiday.

But there are two big reasons why this particular trip has sparked such anger.

Scott Morrison is returning to Australia on Saturday, cutting his holiday short. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett

The first is the baffling lack of transparency from Mr Morrison and his office.

The Prime Minister could have issued a statement on the day he left, telling the public where he was going and stressing that others would step up to manage the federal government’s bushfire response in his absence.

Instead he sent a text to Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, alerting him to the situation, and left Deputy PM Michael McCormack in charge without telling the rest of us.

The first Australians heard of their Prime Minister’s absence was when NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge tweeted about “rumours” he was in Hawaii.

Where's the Prime Minister? We just confirmed with the Deputy PM's office that he's acting PM until at least Thursday. Have they noticed the country is on fire? We have heard rumours @ScottMorrisonMP is in Hawaii #ClimateEmergency
— David Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeMLC) December 16, 2019

On 2GB radio on Friday morning, Mr Morrison was asked why he didn’t announce his trip. He claimed it’s not something prime ministers typically do.

“We don’t normally. I took leave in June as well, and we did the same practice,” he said.

“I think on this occasion, because there’s been such horrendous events, that has understandably caused a lot of anxiety. I deeply regret that, and so does (Mr Morrison’s wife) Jenny. To those affected by the fires, we deeply regret it.”

But this isn’t just about that initial decision. It’s about the entire week.

The news that Mr Morrison was on leave broke on Monday. It sparked an immediate backlash, particularly online. But the man himself did not say anything until Friday.

Meanwhile, his office refused to reveal where he was, citing “privacy and security concerns”.

It even told some reporters – falsely, it turns out – the rumours Mr Morrison was in Hawaii were wrong.

On Monday night PMO said claims PM was holidaying were â€œwrongâ€. Airport sources claim he boarded a business flight to Honolulu an PMO now says wonâ€™t comment on that. Naturally Iâ€™m happy to correct record if we can work out #WhereTheBloodyHellAreYou pic.twitter.com/wcNrUVCV3y
— ð•¤ð•’ð•žð•’ð•Ÿð•¥ð•™ð•’ ð•žð•’ð•šð••ð•–ð•Ÿ (@samanthamaiden) December 18, 2019

So the PM confirms he was in Hawaii. Earlier this week his office told me reports of Scott Morrison holidaying in Hawaii were "incorrect". https://t.co/LQc6dQfy9C
— Frances Mao (@francesmao) December 19, 2019

So while the Prime Minister himself was silent, his staff offered something worse – a contemptuous dismissal of the idea that Mr Morrison’s absence was even a story worth telling the public.

By keeping the boss’s location secret, they created a completely unnecessary mystery and made that story even bigger than it otherwise would have been.

The second element here is a belief among many Australians that Mr Morrison’s leadership on the bushfires – not just this week, but more broadly – has been deficient.

Their biggest complaint is his reluctance to confront the link between the fires and climate change. Not to pay it the obligatory lip service, but to really, truly confront it.

This week, a group of former fire chiefs, led by former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins, took matters into their own hands and announced their intention to host an emergency summit on the matter.

“We’re still very frustrated that the Prime Minister has refused to meet with us,” Mr Mullins told news.com.au.

“People are becoming very angry and they want to have a say.

“They are being told that now is not the time to talk about climate change but I have dealt with hundreds of people who have suffered losses and I know they want to know why, it’s part of the healing process.”

Meanwhile, at the international climate talks in Spain, Australia was accused of blocking progress as it pushed for the right to count carry-over credits from the Kyoto period to meet its Paris carbon emission reduction targets.

Mr Morrison has repeatedly said the government will meet its targets easily. He has not managed to convince all Australians that is true – or that he’s taking the challenge of climate change seriously.

Scott Morrison has previously batted away questions about meeting with the former fire chiefs. Picture: James Morgan/Getty Images

More broadly, the Prime Minister’s insistence that the federal government is already doing enough to support firefighting efforts has not gone down well.

Think back to last Tuesday, when he was asked whether there was more he could do to help volunteers who have been away from work for weeks without pay.

“The fact is these crews, yes, they’re tired, but they also want to be out there defending their communities,” he responded.

Not a great look, saying exhausted firefighters “want to be there”, then popping off overseas to Hawaii and leaving them to it.

The truth is, Mr Morrison’s presence in the country is not likely to have any real effect on Australia’s bushfire response, one way or the other.

His government has already injected millions more dollars into aerial firefighting efforts, and has made it clear the states will get whatever they ask for to help.

And we don’t live in a presidential system, so when Mr Morrison is overseas, his responsibilities are still taken care of by his ministers. The machinery of government keeps working.

But the Prime Minister’s job isn’t just about practical details like that. It is also about showing leadership, particularly during times of crisis.

By leaving the country without telling anyone, and trying to ignore the ensuing uproar, Mr Morrison fed the impression that he wasn’t treating this crisis with the gravity it deserves.