If Scott Morrison wants to re-engage with voters he needs to admit he has a problem

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference at Parliament House on Sunday. Picture: Rohan Thomson/Getty

The most galling part about the Prime Minister’s handling of the bushfires crisis has been his total unwillingness to take responsibility for his failings.

Saying sorry always has been the hardest thing to do.

First he went overseas in the midst of a national crisis, telling everyone bushfires were a state issue, and he needed a holiday with his family after a busy year.

The year was busy because of the election campaign — a self serving moment in time for parties and politicians. Parliament barely sat at all last year, less than half the time it normally would and for just 10 days in the first eight months of the year.

Then upon his return the rhetoric that the fires are a state responsibility continued. Even though federal governments have long eroded federalism to usurp states rights. And the Commonwealth collects the lion’s share of taxpayer revenue all the while funding a declining share of bushfire assistance in recent years compared with the states.

Then when it was clear people were angry the PM began visiting bushfire ravaged parts of the country, only to walk away from people crying out for help and venting their frustration. Asked about such reactions, Scott Morrison misrepresented the exchanges he had, suggesting they were more fulsome than they were.

When it was still clear that people are angry, Team Morrison attempted to hurl the blame onto the states, backgrounding journalists against state Liberal colleagues before publicly calling for an end to the blame game.

Spin, marketing, attempts at obfuscation. Those have been the guiding principles behind this PM’s responses and those of his team so far.

Eventually the full force of the military was deployed, with subtle digs from the PM that the states undersold the extent of the issue.

So much for ending the blame game. And what about the warnings from the ex-emergency chiefs the PM wouldn’t meet with? Or the ongoing refusal of sections of his government to acknowledge links between fires and climate change?

The late call up of the military wasn’t even communicated to the Rural Fire Service chief, who says he found out via the media. The Premiers were told just moments before the public announcement and after selective media had already been tipped off.

And don’t even get me started about that political ad put out in the midst of the fires, authorised by the PM himself. It was so low as to be entirely unworthy of a national leader during a crisis. Yet, of course, Morrison refused to admit it was a mistake. He even claimed white is black, saying it wasn’t a political ad. He should take one of my undergraduate classes on politics to learn the basics about political advertising laws and rules and their purpose.

If Morrison really wants to re-engage with disillusioned voters he needs to do what step one of all rehab programs demand — admit he has a problem, then go about fixing it. The way he puts politics first, the way some in his office are willing to mislead rather than tell the truth, the way he always looks for someone else to blame — it has to stop.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University