Scott Morrison has time to reset and take control

Although Scott Morrison has had a wicked summer he’d rather forget, it’s an experience he must learn from if he is to successfully reset his political and policy fortunes. The Prime Minister’s reputation as a skilled communicator, decisive leader and cheery man of the people has been battered. On Monday we reported the Coalition had taken an electoral hit from the bushfire crisis and the sports rorts controversy, with Mr Morrison’s popularity languishing in a post-Hawaii trough. Newspoll shows the Coalition’s primary vote tumbling to 38 per cent, from 42 per cent in early December. A new parliamentary year offers the Coalition a chance to break out of its rut and seize the moment.

The loss of political skin has largely been of Mr Morrison’s own making, given his dominance of the government’s sales pitch and decision-making. The government lost its way in three areas — bushfires, sports rorts and to an extent the coronavirus response — for different reasons. Mr Morrison’s pre-Christmas family vacation to Hawaii was a misstep with voters and poorly handled, end to end. The trip allowed critics to portray the Prime Minister as uncaring and missing in action as the bushfires crisis deepened. Certainly the obfuscation around Mr Morrison’s absence overseas was a mistake when the public needed clarity and reassurance. A chance to assert leadership was forfeited. Was there a touch of hubris after a triumphant year against expectations? Whether voters hold on to the gaffes and forget the good moves made hinges on what Mr Morrison does next. Since his return six weeks ago, Mr Morrison has been front and centre in the national media. He has held press conferences on every issue facing his government, visited bushfire zones and drought-affected areas, and kept up a stream of policy announcements. Yet critics have had a field day and Mr Morrison has been playing rhetorical catch-up. After the scathing Auditor-General’s report into the $100m Community Sport Infrastructure Program, the government was utterly immobilised, defending and dodging an episode of blatant pork barrelling. The principles were clear but, rather than confronting the breach and being open, Mr Morrison set in train an artificial process. Not releasing the report by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Phil Gaetjens only serves to raise more questions on a topic that should have put laid to rest a fortnight ago.

The response to the coronavirus also has been questionable. The government seems to have been, at best, a day behind the play. Precise details about the fast-moving international health crisis have been slow in coming, such is the tight central control by Beijing. But the confusion over who would bear the $1000 cost for the transfer of evacuees to Christmas Island — finally cleared up by Josh Frydenberg — is a sign of an inexplicable lack of co-ordination.

The government’s responses to these issues are mystifying, highlighting shortcomings in decision-making and transparency. Thinking back, for instance, to the way Labor handled the immediate response to the liquidity and spending infarction due to the global financial crisis in 2008 is sobering. Labor took quick action and used clear lines of communication. The subsequent waste and over-stimulus is a sorry story. But this government needs to get its crisis management in order. As parliament returns, the triumphant Coalition of 2019 is somehow in internal disarray. The Nationals have a chance to cauterise their bleeding due to the self-immolation of Bridget McKenzie. It is not clear what benefit a return to Barnaby Joyce as leader would bring but muddling along with a nice-guy leader who fails to cut through is also fraught.

Mr Morrison cannot control his coalition partner, but he can reset his government’s fortunes. At the National Press Club last Wednesday the Prime Minister laid out an agenda, pledging to stay the course on delivering a strong economy, job growth, better services, practical ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced national security. The workbook is big enough, as long as it has at the forefront ambitions to make structural renovations for the long term — on taxation, retirement incomes, energy policy and red tape — rather than ad hoc moves that pander to the whims of the noisiest Australians. It is apparent Mr Morrison has lost some of his abundant confidence. He can be stubborn, which is both a virtue and a vice. He is also clearly a confidence player. He should channel those virtues. First, ignore the roving mob of post-fact social media whiners who change the policy menu daily. Second, concentrate on what he promised voters he would deliver: a budget surplus, no tax rises, best-practice social services, work skills, fresh investment and congestion-busting infrastructure. There’s a lot to do. The surplus may not eventuate because of the coronavirus-linked hit to tourism and education. If the economy tanks, the government’s budget is essentially in balance so a sensible and targeted fiscal hit could be justified. The government’s wobbles are not terminal. The nation’s fundamentals are sound. An election is at least two years away. Mr Morrison is a relatively new leader with good instincts. His ministers need to step up because he is carrying them; that may have worked in the sprint to the election, not now. The public demands two things: competence and honesty. Mr Morrison should keep that front of mind as he surveys the many opportunities and risks that come with leadership and incumbent power.