Scott Morrison grilled on sports rorts after Press Club speech
The Prime Minister has proposed a new role for the military in national disasters during his Press Club address, but has faced tough questions over the sports rorts scandal.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has outlined a stronger role for the military in responding to natural disasters and taken some tough questions on the sports rorts affair during his first major speech of 2020.
As expected, the Prime Minister highlighted the government’s economic credentials during his address at the National Press Club.
“Australia is strong, but we must become even stronger” he said at the beginning of his speech, which had been designed to set out an agenda for the government over the coming months.
“Sound economic management puts you in a position to deal with long-term challenges and as well as dealing with crises when they hit,” he said, referencing the bushfire crisis.
“Our ability to do this without putting up taxes or levies as has occurred in the past and while retaining our AAA credit rating and our path to surplus is the dividend of our Government’s enduring commitment to fiscal discipline. That’s what it’s about.”
PM QUIZZED ABOUT SPORTS RORTS
After his address, the Prime Minister faced a series of tough questions about the sports rorts scandal, in which he rejected suggestions that the government’s allocation of grants to groups in targeted electorates had been self-serving.
He did not specify whether former Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie would be stood down over the issue, saying only that the Attorney-General’s investigation into the grants was underway and he would act on his recommendations.
He rejected a comparison to the infamous Ros Kelly “sports rorts whiteboard” affair from the 1980s, saying in that instance, public money was given to ineligible projects, and that did not happen in this case.
He also rejected suggestions that public money was used for party political purposes, saying the sports grants were awarded “to support local communities in the sporting infrastructure that they need to bond together,” he said.
“What the Government was doing was supporting local community infrastructure projects, and I know all of which were eligible under the program, all of which will make a difference in the community and there are always many more,” he said.
Asked what he would say to the representatives from sporting groups that did not receive any grants through the program, Mr Morrison stated that there were “many, many more worthy projects in this area”.
“I will work with the Treasurer to see how we can better support even more projects in the future. On any grants program, however it is done, there will always be many applicants whose projects are very worthy and they’re unable to be accommodated by the budget we have set,” he said.
The Prime Minister was also quizzed on his view of the public service, given the impression that its advice on the most worthy recipients of the grants had been largely ignored by Ms McKenzie’s office.
“I absolutely respect the professionalism and the expertise and the skills of Australia’s public service,” he said.
“I have always done so. I greatly value the contribution they make in the work of our Government.”
PM’S PLAN TO CALL IN DEFENCE
The Prime Minister also outlined his plan to call in the Defence Force during times of natural disaster.
The move would allow the Commonwealth to bypass states, which presently have to ask for assistance, he said.
The ADF deployment in the current bushfire crisis, involving 13 aircraft, three naval vessels and more than 6500 troops, had “multiplied and amplified the effectiveness of state disaster response agencies, not supplant them, and it has played a critical role in getting fast and effective disaster relief where it was needed most,” Mr Morrison said.
The Prime Minister also touched on the royal commission he has proposed to investigate the bushfire crisis, saying part of its remit will be to look at the recommendations of previous similar inquiries.
“Too often the findings from these inquiries get forgotten, they get deprioritised over time,” he said.
Laws governing how landowners clear their land, and how hazard reduction burns get carried out will also need to be looked at, he said.
PM DOES NOT RULE OUT CARRY-OVER CREDITS
Addressing the issue of climate change, Mr Morrison said that the need to reduce global emissions is “not in dispute”.
“Of course we know that Australia on its own cannot control the world’s climate as Australia accounts for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions. We also know that no fire event can be attributed to the actions of any one country on emissions reduction. But Australia must play its part and we are playing our part,” he said.
The Prime Minister stressed that the government’s climate action agenda was “practical”.
“It goes beyond targets and summits and it’s driven by technology, not taxation,” he said.
But he did not stipulate whether the government would be using so-called “carry over credits” to meet its emissions reduction targets, saying if those targets were met without using “legitimate carry-over credits” it would be even better”.
He also pointed out that the use of such credits was a condition of the former Labor government signing up to the second round of the Kyoto Protocol, and on that basis, he was not “copping lectures from that lot”.
NATURAL GAS A KEY PART OF ENERGY MIX
The Prime Minister also used part of his speech to talk up the role of natural gas supplies in Australia’s energy mix, saying “We need to get the gas from under our feet”.
“There is no credible energy transition plan for an economy like Australia, in particular, that does not involve the greater use of gas as an important transition fuel,” he said.
“There are plenty of other medium or long-term fuel arrangements and prospects, but they will not be commercially scalable (or) available for at least a decade is our advice. Gas has a critical role to play, as a backstop to our record investment in renewable energy generation.
It helps ensure we can keep the lights on when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.”
As revealed in The Australian today, Mr Morrison's’s address, titled An Even Stronger, More Resilient Australia, highlighted the government’s economic management that has allowed its bushfire recovery efforts to be delivered without increased taxes or levies.
“I believe there is now a clear community expectation that the Commonwealth should have the ability to respond in times of national emergencies and disasters, particularly through deployment of our defence forces in circumstances where the life and property of Australians have been assessed to be under threat,’’ Mr Morrison said.
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The speech did not feature any changes to climate policy, but will promote a response to protect Australians and the economy from fires, floods and cyclones.
“We must continue to learn from this fire season so we are better prepared for the next one, whether that be the deployment of the ADF, local hazard reduction, access to resources such as aerial firefighting equipment, consistency of disaster recovery arrangements or resilience in the face of a changing climate,” he said.
Mr Morrison said the scale and reach of the bushfires across state borders means it’s crucial to clarify how the Commonwealth will use its resources to respond to future crises.
“As I’ve said before, I have been very conscious of testing the limits of constitutionally defined roles and responsibilities this bushfire season,” he said.
Mr Morrison has come under pressure for his response to the bushfire crisis.
Last week, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull launched a blistering attack, accusing his successor of failing to show leadership and downplaying the influence of global warming.
“Everybody knew we were in a very dry time and as a consequence the fire season was likely to be very bad,” Mr Turnbull said.
“So rather than doing what a leader should do and preparing people for that, he downplayed it and then, of course, chose to go away on holiday in Hawaii at the peak of the crisis.
“It’s just not consistent with the way in which a prime minister would or should act.”
Originally published as Scott Morrison grilled on sports rorts after Press Club speech
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