Will the real Scott Morrison please stand up?

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison calls on his party to “be more authentic at the 59th Liberal Party Federal Council Meeting in Sydney on Saturday. Photo: AAP

Scott Morrison says it’s time to be more authentic. The Treasurer addressing the Liberal Party’s federal council, Saturday:

To crack through this thick ice, we must communicate candidly and with authenticity.

Morrison? Authentic? Does the real ScoMo believe we have a spending problem? Morrison in Canberra, September 23, 2015:

We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Or tackling spending is too hard? Morrison on the ABC’s 7:30, May 9:

Leigh Sales: $5 out of every $6 of budget repair in this Budget comes from raising revenue, not cutting spending.

Morrison: But Leigh, we had $13.5 billion of savings which the Senate rejected … so we’ve acted to keep the balanced budget on track ...

Does the real ScoMo hate debt? The Treasurer speaking in Sydney, August 25 last year:

The worst case scenario will see our gross debt exceed $1 trillion in a decade ... (this scenario) could well prove to be the tipping point on the trajectory of debt our children and grandchildren will be saddled with.

Or does he believe debt is cool now? Morrison speaking to the ABC’s Sabra Lane on AM, June 14:

Firstly, gross debt will continue to increase from 2018-19 ... I made the distinction as you will recall, Sabra, in the Budget, about good debt and bad debt.

Answer ... ScoMo believes in whatever works for him at the time. The Treasurer speaking on Saturday:

It means we must be careful not to slavishly follow past political orthodoxies ... As a Government, as a party, we must lead and govern for the times we are in ...

Peta Credlin reminds us of when the Liberal Party was truly authentic. Sunday Herald Sun, yesterday:

The Coalition won a landslide victory in 2013 promising to cut spending, cut taxes, end the climate change hysteria and restore faith in politics after the political cannibalism of Labor’s revolving-door leadership. But, thanks to Malcolm Turnbull’s ambitions, they’ve betrayed every one of these commitments.

The Treasurer at The Liberal Party’s federal council, Saturday:

We must answer with our actions the questions that Australians are asking: “Do you understand?” ... “Do you get it?” ... Our answer in this year’s Budget was “Yes”.

But punters are saying “No” to Morrison‘s Labor-lite budget. Peter van Onselen in The Weekend Australian, Saturday:

The Newspoll released in the final sitting week before the winter break saw Malcolm Turnbull achieve an unwanted milestone. No prime minister or opposition leader who has trailed on the two-party vote for 14 or more consecutive Newspolls has won the following election.

And Gillian Triggs is now totally radical, dude. ABC News’s One on One, Friday:

I don’t see myself as a warrior ... But as you meet the people; you’re talking to mothers on Christmas Island ... one becomes radicalised.

Maybe Triggs and far-left senator Lee Rhiannon can start a new party together. The Sun-Herald, yesterday:

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has angrily rejected claims she derailed her party’s school funding negotiations with the government after her own colleagues wrote a letter accusing her of betrayal ... They believe Senator Rhiannon must be sanctioned.