Anthony Albanese says Scott Morrison’s Father’s Day trip ‘a family matter’

Labor leader draws the line at criticising PM’s Father’s Day dash to Sydney, as colleagues slam his ‘appalling judgement’.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s family post for Father’s Day of a photograph taken in January. Picture: Instagram

Anthony Albanese says he won’t criticise Scott Morrison for his Father’s Day trip to Sydney, despite his colleagues deriding the decision as “appalling judgement”.

The Opposition Leader rattled off a number of issues he would happily criticise the Prime Minister over, but said his family was the point where he drew the line.

“There’s a whole range of things I’ll be critical of, but on matters of his family I never comment on those matters. That’s up to him, essentially. And I think that’s a good place to stay,” Mr Albanese told 4CA Cairns

Mr Morrison defended the Father’s Day trip, saying he understands the “frustration” some people feel about his trip but there was “a lot of misinformation” over the issue.

The Prime Minister copped criticism after reports emerged he had flown back to Sydney on Sunday to visit his family before returning to the ACT on Monday for work.

“I can understand people’s frustration, but I do think that there has been a lot of misinformation about this. I live in Sydney. I often have to be here for work. There was no requirement to get an exemption to go to Sydney,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.

Mr Morrison received an exemption from the ACT chief health officer Kerryn Coleman to re-enter Canberra from Sydney, enabling him to avoid two weeks’ quarantine as is usually required, with the arrangement allowing him to speak at a landmark summit on women’s safety and a ­national security meeting.

Anthony Albanese has refused to criticise the PM for the trip, saying it is a family matter. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Adam Yip

But with tens of thousands of Australians stuck overseas and ordinary Australians separated by ongoing border closures, Mr Morrison faced criticism for perceived double standards, with Bill Shorten saying he had exercised ­“appalling judgment”.

“I was a bit surprised when I read he had done this. It’s not that he doesn’t deserve to see his kids but so does every other Australian,” Mr Shorten told Today on Tuesday.

“When your people are doing it tough, you’ve got to do it tough, too.

“I know a lot of MPs – when we leave Canberra we’ve got to spend two weeks locked down away from families.

“I don’t know how he was able to get a permit when most people can’t.”

Mr Morrison described criticism from the opposition NDIS spokesman as “cheap politics”.

“Bill knows that the Prime Minister needs to go backwards and forwards between those ­places to do the work. He understands that secure documents, ­secure discussions need to be held – he knows all of that,” he said. “And so frankly it’s a bit of a cheap shot, particularly given the leader of the Labor Party and I, both understand these arrangements and don’t take issue with them.”

Mr Morrison also rejected claims he had tried to “cover up” the trip by posting an Instagram post from January, saying he had beamed into an official event from Kirribilli, his official Sydney residence, at the weekend, which undermined these claims.

He has spent 46 days in lockdown or quarantine since the G7 summit in the United Kingdom in June.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan also questioned the decision to travel home, saying “there shouldn’t be one rule for the PM and one rule for others.

“I think we should reunite all Australian families.”

Mr Morrison found support from an unlikely source, with Labor backbencher Joel Fitzgibbon saying his application had been approved “within the rules”.

“I see some terrible stories about people not being able to get into Queensland. “That’s a different jurisdiction, different rules. He made the application. He was approved. He did it within the rules and again I’m not going to be too critical,” Mr Fitzgibbon told Sky News on Tuesday morning.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said the exemption wasn’t the issue but rather Mr Morrison’s lack of openness about his whereabouts.

“People just don’t understand why this Prime Minister can’t be upfront with them about his travel plans,” he said.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he could see how Australians would perceive the situation as a “Hawaii 2.0”, but added that both Parliament House and The Lodge were “among the most remote from the rest of Canberra” so were unlikely to cause a health issue.

Women’s Safety Minister Anne Ruston described attacks on Mr Morrison as cheap swipes.