Scott Morrison’s acrobatics: more backflips than a three-ring circus

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, left, Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Monday. Picture: Adam Taylor / PMO

Scott Morrison is often accused of throwing his ministers under a bus but ahead of the budget, it’s more apt to say the Prime Minister is prone to throwing a minister under a boat.

What’s more, he gets them — or uses them in a political keelhauling — to clear any barnacles while they are under the water.

Morrison is turning the policy retreat or political about-face into a refined art as he seeks to maintain political momentum and avoid distractions from the budget and pandemic recovery.

It may look inconsistent, and Anthony Albanese says it is crisis management from a government in chaos, but Morrison is more concerned with maintaining political and budget momentum than short-term contradictions and embarrassment.

Morrison watched his two erstwhile leaders, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, hold on to favourite programs, policies or positions for so long the “barnacles”, as Abbott called them, dragged down their leadership and stalled the ship of state.

Morrison also watched John Howard’s consummate skill in using a backdown, about-face or retreat to neutralise a mistake or kill off a problem.

In the past few months, Morrison has backed away from, overturned or downright cancelled decisions that threatened to divert attention from the budget-driven economic recovery, to feed public anger or disrupt Coalition unity.

Aged care became a huge problem for the Coalition: the budget now has $17.7bn over four years for improving aged care.

On Monday, the Opposition Leader said: “This budget is a real test for the government (which) waits until there’s a crisis before it responds. On aged care in 2019, they received a report titled ­Neglect but waited until this week for any response.”

Morrison and Josh Frydenberg will set out a four-year aged-care plan in Tuesday’s budget that starts before the election.

The two-week ban to May 15 on travel from India was causing outrage: it now ends on May 15 and up to six repatriation flights are being planned. The Liberals had “a problem with women”: women’s security and childcare are now central planks of the budget.

Again, Albanese says it is a crisis response after denying there was a problem but, again, the budget responds with big dollars and Albanese tries to outbid Morrison with Labor’s plan for a “quadrupling of childcare”.

Impatience and frustration with “Fortress Australia” bans on overseas travel were turning to anger so now, emerging from confused signals in recent days, there is a plan to let Australians travel with fewer restrictions.

Veterans were angry over the withdrawal of medals from all soldiers who served in Afghanistan and also wanted a royal commission into suicide: the medals are safe, the budget will fund a royal commission.

Foreign backpackers, whom Morrison essentially told to go home, were complaining of harsh visa requirements during the pandemic and employers were calling for an easing of restrictions to fill vacancies. Visa requirements are now eased.

Add to these shorter term retreats the calibrated withdrawals from Coalition positions on zero net carbon emissions by 2050 and the role of gas as a transition fuel towards greater renewable energy and there are more backflips than in a three-ring circus.

Albanese’s interpretation? It’s “just another example of them playing catch-up, of having no ­vision beyond the 24-hour media cycle”. Labor’s problem is a well-executed backflip can disguise a stumble or slip and the audience remembers only the finale.