RFS volunteer who said Scott Morrison ‘not my PM’ is British citizen

An interview on The Project where they used a quote from a Rural Fire Service volunteer claiming Scott Morrison was “not my PM” — and which was circulated by his critics — has been panned as the unedited footage revealed the woman jokingly said those words because she is a British citizen.

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Channel 10’s The Project has been accused of fake news after footage of the Prime Minister meeting Rural Fire Service members was selectively edited with one volunteer saying he was “not my prime minister”.

But the TV news program has claimed it a “mistake” but not a deliberate one.

The woman was lauded by Scott Morrison’s critics on Twitter after the clip of his visit to the Mudgee evacuation centre was released last night — but unedited footage of their meeting released today paints a very different picture.

It shows the volunteer called Jacqui is a British citizen and was actually joking about her Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

PM Scott Morrison with RFS volunteer Jacqui. Picture: Sky News

Mr Morrison also clarified the exchange in a tweet today, confirming the comments were in reference to her status as a British National.

“Indeed, as Jacqui joked with me yesterday, I’m not her PM, because she’s British, Boris Johnson is,” he said in a tweet.

“But with local MP Andrew Gee, we made a decent pitch for her to become an Aussie yesterday. She & the other RFS volunteers have been doing an incredible job battling these blazes.”

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The highly edited version of the clip has been picked up by online activists who are sharing the selective footage.

However the social media tide turned today, with some accusing The Project of fake news.

“Shock horror The Project putting out #FakeNews #WakeUpAustralia,” one user wrote.

Another said on Twitter: “The project engaged in #FakeNews.”

Indeed, as Jacqui joked with me yesterday, I’m not her PM, because she’s British, Boris Johnson is. But with local MP Andrew Gee, we made a decent pitch for her to become an Aussie yesterday. She & the other RFS volunteers have been doing an incredible job battling these blazes. pic.twitter.com/28z3c4bTMG

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) December 23, 2019

Local MP Andrew Gee, who was visiting the evacuation centre with the PM, also posted on Facebook to clarify the situation.

“It was a lighthearted conversation about Jacqui being a British citizen and trying to sign her up to being an Aussie in which we also spoke about her vital role in comms for the fire effort. I detailed it on an earlier post. ScoMo is not her PM – Boris is,” he wrote.

“Basically nobody on the front lines of this fight cares about this sort of stuff when we’ve got lives, homes and properties being lost, so I’m leaving that issue where it is.”

On Tuesday night’s program, The Project host Waleed Aly admitted that airing the select version of the clip was a mistake — but not a deliberate one.

He said the reason the program edited the exchange was because parts of their conversation were unintelligible.

“The problem for us was that significant parts of that were inaudible, so we couldn’t actually deduce what was in that exchange,” he said.

“This was clearly not a deliberate mistake on our part, it was however a mistake nonetheless, we think it is important to own up to your mistakes and come clean about those things, so we take full responsibility for it.”

Originally published as RFS volunteer who said Scott Morrison ‘not my PM’ is British citizen