Scott Morrison enjoying a beer at the footy while Victorians grapple with COVID lockdown is not a good look

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attending the NRL match between the Cronulla Sharks and Penrith Panthers at Kogarah Oval on Saturday – while taking some time off to during this week’s school holidays. Picture: News Corp

Just when you’re starting to think he hasn’t put a foot wrong he goes and puts his foot in it.

His scarf in it.

His plastic cup of beer in it.

You’ll know by now that Scott Morrison went to the football on Saturday night to cheer on the Sharks.

The pictures are everywhere.

He’s in a crowd.

He’s not wearing a mask.

He’s whooping it up, cheering on his team, because, well, I don’t know, because we’re all Victorians now?

Or only up to a point, Prime Minister?

He is entitled to a break, but this is ridiculous. Going to the rugby, celebrating and cheering, while Victoria is in a state of crisis, is just wrong. Read the room, @ScottMorrisonMP. #NotMyPM https://t.co/fjd2OMDym2

— Lauren Farrell (@lauren1750) July 11, 2020

Yes, of course there will be people who say, oh, come on, he’s been working around the clock.

Yes, he has.

He’s entitled to a break.

Yes, he is.

Which is why, when Morrison said he wanted to take a few days off during this week’s school holidays, and asked for the nation’s understanding, he got such a warm response.

#insiders. Wrong, wrong, wrong. ScoMo is entitled to time with his kids but going to the football was a Hawaii-size PR blunder in a national health crisis.

— Derryn Hinch (@HumanHeadline) July 11, 2020

Yes, go on then, off you go.

We’ll manage and you’ve earned it.

Then, like a man who hasn’t spent five minutes in the marketing department, Morrison on Saturday night turned up at the football, swirling a scarf around his head.

Going mask-free, Scott Morrison waves a scarf around while Victoria is in coronavirus crisis. Picture: News Corp

It was such a bad look.

Such a dumb thing to do.

It was the first weekend of the second Melbourne lockdown. Five million people are back behind closed doors.

There’s no football here. There are no beers with the boys. No grandkids climbing onto grandma’s knee.

There’s no nothing.

A tale of how two "leaders" spent their Saturday night. pic.twitter.com/DZWMpPyvDW

— Carrick Ryan (@realCarrickRyan) July 11, 2020

People mock the “pub test” but it’s valid.

You want a week off to spent time with your family during the school holidays? When they, and all of us, have been through such a harrowing time?

You go for it.

You want to wave a scarf around your head while Victoria is in a state of crisis?

There are tower blocks in Melbourne shimmering with contagion.

There are people dying.

Of course, Morrison is not to blame for that. It’s not like he’s a toey security guard, or a quarantined traveller nipping out of lockdown for a plate of oysters and a ciggie.

No, but people keep saying he’s “Scotty from Marketing” yet he cannot seem to read the room.

It was the same during the bushfires, when Morrison told people to just relax, and go the cricket, before the game got smoked out.

Now it’s: bad luck, Melbourne, and go the Sharks! Gleeful at freedoms not yet enjoyed by everyone, and without even donning a mask.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison #auspol

Summer Global
Bushfires Pandemic
2020 2020 pic.twitter.com/WoXNJjAQ53

— Denise Shrivell - Anti-Fascist (@deniseshrivell) July 11, 2020

Morrison got schooled on leadership during the bushfires, but maybe let’s say it again: leadership means empathy, and it means solidarity with those who are suffering.

And it’s not like he was being asked to hold the stethoscope. Just stay home and watch the footy.

Lead by example.