Scott Morrison defends Father's Day trip to Sydney amid criticism

Scott Morrison says he understands the ‘frustration’ people feel about his trip to Sydney, but asserts there’s ‘a lot of misinformation’ about it.

Scott Morrison speaking at the National Summit on Women's Safety. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Scott Morrison says he understands the “frustration” people feel about his Father’s Day trip to Sydney, but asserts there is “a lot of misinformation” over the issue.

The Prime Minister has copped considerable 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-related purposes.

“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,” Mr Morrison told Sky News on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Morrison made the journey after he received an exemption from the ACT government, before returning to Parliament House yesterday. The arrangement allowed him to speak at the summit on women’s safety and attend a meeting on national security.

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 judgement”.

But Mr Morrison hit back, describing 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,” Mr Morrison said.

“And so frankly it’s a bit of a cheap shot, particularly given the leader of the Labor Party and I, you know, both understand these arrangements and don’t take issue with them.”

Mr Morrison 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, over the weekend, which undermined these claims.

“People like to take a lot of swings at you, and you get pretty used to that,” he said.

Families celebrate doing Father’s Day across barriers at Coolangatta. Picture: Richard Gosling.

Earlier, Mr Shorten told Today: “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. 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 their families. I don’t know how he was able to get a permit when most people can’t.

“You can’t have one rule for Mr Morrison and another for everyone else. I think it is appalling judgment,” he later added.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan also questioned his 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 received an exemption from the ACT chief health office Dr Kerryn Coleman to re-enter Canberra from Sydney, enabling him to avoid two weeks’ quarantine as is usually required.

In addition to speaking at the national women’s safety summit, the exemption enabled Mr Morrison to attend a national security committee of federal cabinet, which can only take place in a secure briefing room in Parliament House.

In an Instagram posted on Mr Morrison’s account on Sunday, he said: “On this day this photo was taken of our family together earlier this year I was reminded of just how precious that gift is.”

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

Mr Morrison found support from an unlikely source, however, 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.