Scott Morrison shrugs off Berejiklian text saga

Scott Morrison says he is ‘con­fident’ no one in his cabinet sent the text to Gladys Berejiklian calling him ‘a psycho’.

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce. Picture: Gary Ramage

Scott Morrison says he is “con­fident” no one in his cabinet sent the text to Gladys Berejiklian calling him “a psycho”, as prominent members of his ministry deny they were behind the message.

It comes as Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce urged whoever was responsible to “out themselves” after backtracking on attributing the guilt to a woman.

The Prime Minister on Wednesday was forced to defend his relationship with the former NSW premier, who allegedly called him a “horrible person” to a cabinet minister in text mes­sages during the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20.

Ms Berejiklian released a statement on Tuesday after the texts were revealed by Network Ten journalist Peter van Onselen, in which she said she had “no recollection of such messages”.

Mr Morrison said he was “not fussed” over the identity of the person behind the texts and that he had “confidence” in the members of his cabinet.

Federal Liberal MPs believe NSW Treasurer Matt Kean was behind the leak, despite van Onselen saying the Liberal minister was “in Canberra”.

The two federal ministers who are closest to Ms Berejiklian, NSW moderates Marise Payne and Paul Fletcher, both denied they were participants in the text exchange. Senator Payne said the rumour she was the minister who labelled Mr Morrison “a psycho” were ludicrous: “I have never had such an exchange with the former premier, nor have I ever used such language, nor did I leak messages, if indeed they are genuine.”

She said the description of the Prime Minister did not “match my long experience of working with him”.

“He is the best person to lead this country now and into the ­future,” Senator Payne said.

Mr Kean, who has this week been critical of the Morrison government’s support to business during the Omicron outbreak, denied he was the sender of the texts. “It’s just outrageous and I’m here denying it,” he said on the Nine Network.

Mr Joyce on Wednesday made yet another faux pas – after last week being forced to apologise for saying Australians were not dying of Covid – when he appeared to identify the unnamed minister as a woman.

Mr Joyce declared “she’s out” as he urged the minister respon­sible to out themselves.

However, when asked which female minister he thought was responsible, Mr Joyce said he didn’t know the identity or the gender of the person who sent the messages.

Instead he said that “she’s out” was a “colloquial cricket term” and meant to be “non-binary”.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the messages were nothing but “smear, gossip and innuendo”. Liberal MP Jason Falinski, a senior NSW moderate, said the person responsible for the texts should come forward as their position was “untenable”.