‘Mean and tricky’ memo man backs ‘real deal’ Morrison

Shane Stone, the man at the centre of the leaking of the infamous memo describing the Howard government as ‘mean and tricky’, has backed the PM’s handling of his own leaking scandal.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire.

Shane Stone, the man at the centre of the leaking of the infamous memo describing the Howard government in 2001 as “mean and tricky”, has backed Scott Morrison’s handling of the leaking of a text describing the Prime Minister as “a liar and a hypocrite”.

As bad as the leaking of personally damaging texts are for Morrison, they have not yet reached the depths of political crisis that faced the Howard government at the beginning of 2001.

In February 2001, with an election due by the end of that year, the Coalition was languishing behind the Kim Beazley-led Labor opposition and split over the leadership of Howard or a potential takeover by treasurer Peter Costello.

Stone, the Liberal Party president and a powerbroker in 2001, told The Australian on Sunday: “Morrison is one of the most authentic public figures I have ever worked with.”

As a former Coalition leader in the Northern Territory, Stone continues to have influence within the party and was appointed by Morrison as head of the National Drought and Flood Agency in 2019. He told The Australian that after the leaking of the text from Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, written when he was a backbencher and describing Morrison as a “hypocrite and liar”, he thought he would “join the fray”.

Stone said Morrison was one of the “most authentic public figures” he had worked with and that his first trip after the election was not Beijing, Jakarta or Washington.

“It was to Cloncurry to check on disaster relief,” he said. “He regularly seeks personal updates on the disaster recovery and that includes all through Christmas.

“He always asks what more do I need, including for the Black Summer bushfires. He’s driving an agenda and getting stuff done – floods, bushfires, Covid. He’s the real deal.”

Last week, the Coalition’s primary vote in Newspoll was down to 34 per cent and Anthony Albanese has highlighted the Coalition’s disruption and divisions.

In February 2001, after the backlash against the introduction of the GST and a Coalition rout at the Queensland state election, Howard asked Stone to ask Queensland MPs what they thought was the problem.

Stone’s frank discussions resulted in the conclusion the government was seen as out of touch and “mean and tricky”. Costello and then Nationals leader John Anderson were specifically blamed.

At the time the Liberal Party registered its lowest-ever primary vote in Newspoll – 27 per cent – still the Liberals’ lowest level of support.

Yet the real public disruption occurred in May 2001 when Laurie Oakes broke the story of the “mean and tricky memo” and Liberal leadership divisions came to the surface again.

Beazley pounced on the divisions and said “if they can’t govern themselves they can’t govern the country”.

A friendly budget, concessions for small business and an ALP policy of GST “rollback” moved voter sentiment back to the Coalition.

Despite spending thousands of dollars, the Liberals never found the source of the leak of the “mean and tricky” memo.