Newspoll: PM Scott Morrison needs to learn from his mistakes on bushfires

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Kym Smith

We’ve seen Prime Ministers lose support in Newspoll before, but rarely quite like the collapse in personal support for Scott Morrison this week.

His better PM rating dropped nine points, down into the 30s so he now trails Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Satisfaction with Morrison’s performance as PM dipped eight points, with dissatisfaction nudging up just below the 60 per cent mark.

That is extraordinarily high for a recently elected PM.

The collapse in Morrison’s personal ratings is unsurprising in the wake of how badly he handled the bushfires crisis: jetting off to Hawaii on a prearranged family holiday even though a state of emergency had been declared in his home state.

We got an early indication of what the polls might show when Morrison eventually visited fire ravaged communities, as locals abused him and refused to shake his hand. The PM’s awkward response, forcing handshakes with shattered locals who wanted to be left alone was cringe-worthy. Worse still was the optics of Morrison walking away when one local pleaded for help.

It was the actions of someone who has lived his entire life inside the bubble — working in party political and government appointed jobs, not in the communities he now seeks to represent.

Realising that the polling pain would be coming, Team Morrison sprang into action: sending in the army, blitzing the media with appearances, and finally starting to suggest further action on climate change might finally follow.

The response may in time quash anger and resentment with what was Morrison’s first and natural instinct: to disavow responsibility for the emergencies and sheet blame home to the states.

The closest examples I can recall in Newspoll history to the personal collapse in support Morrison is now suffering came when Tony Abbott knighted Prince Philip, and when Kevin Rudd walked away from the Emissions Trading Scheme. But Abbott’s support was already low and Rudd’s dip had already started.

Morrison had been on the up and up before now. He was still in a honeymoon period. Instead, he is now as popular as the always unpopular Bill Shorten was at his most popular. It’s not the start to 2020 he would have been looking for.

The PM will be hoping voters still want to like him, perhaps to vindicate their collective decision to elect him eight short months ago. For that to happen, Morrison will need to quickly find the empathy gene and start answering the questions put to him rather than spinning off in another direction with a smirk on his face.

And perhaps most importantly, Morrison and the team around him need to learn from their mistakes. That was what made John Howard so successful: a level of self-reflection which permitted learning on the job.

Peter van Onselen is Network 10’s Political Editor and a Professor in politics at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.