Scott Morrison has strategically moved to broaden the issue of sexual harassment and mistreatment of women into a societal problem that is not restricted to Parliament House or the Liberal Party.
Simultaneously, Labor has tactically sought to microscopically concentrate on the Prime Minister, his knowledge, his reactions, and responsibility for despicable sexualised behaviour within parliament that is being revealed.
Morrison bared his throat and his soul in an early Tuesday press conference — before the partyroom meeting with Coalition MPs and senators, and a meeting with all ministerial staffers — and well before parliamentary question time.
In an emotional statement of his personal position, the changing of his thinking during the past “terrible” month of allegations of sexual assault and misbehaviour, and his aspirations and frustrations over changing the attitudes to women within the Liberal Party, Morrison has conceded errors and accepted some criticism.
In a growing flow of housing images, Morrison referred to living in glass houses, cleaning our own houses, and Parliament House, as he came out wielding a sword against his critics and a shield to defend himself.
“The problems that we are experiencing in this country are not confined simply to the offices of member and senators and ministers in this place, and go well beyond that,” he said.
Morrison said if there was “wilful malevolence” towards women, it must be called out: “That is all our job. It is my job, it is my ministers’ jobs, it is my members’ and senators’ jobs, it is your job. This is not something that is of a scale that any government can simply change. It is something we must change as a society.”
When challenged by a journalist about the standard of behaviour in the parliament compared to corporations, a clearly angered Morrison harked back to his aggressive days as immigration minister, referred to an investigation into a harassment complaint within News Corp, and warned: “You are free to make your criticisms and to stand on that pedestal — but be careful.”
News Corp, publisher of The Australian, denied there had been a complaint, although confirmed there had been a work-related incident, and accused Morrison of undermining the system of being able to come forward with complaints.
It was a messy and grumpy performance as once again Morrison displayed a personal side when he cited the influence of his wife and daughters, as well as his widowed mother, on his attitude and actions in relation to sexual misbehaviour allegations that started with the revelation of the alleged rape of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins by another Liberal staffer in the office of then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.
“We must take responsibility. It is our problem here, it is our responsibility here, and I’m committed to dealing with that. We must do better in this place, all of us, and in our country we must do better,” Morrison said.
But Anthony Albanese rejected any suggestion of wider responsibility and directed almost all of Labor’s questions to Morrison as they sought to ensnare him in cover-ups, misleading behaviour and a failure to take responsibility.
Labor ACT senator Katy Gallagher declared that she was shocked watching the press conference because: “I thought it was a moment where we were going to see a prime minister stand up, take leadership after all of these terrible, terrible stories of alleged rapes … stories about terrible lewd conduct within government staffing ranks. And it became clear to me that it was just a defensive ploy.”
More Coverage
Read related topics:Scott Morrison