Scott Morrison Is Too Scared To Call Out His Own MPs, So How Can He Run A Country?
Is a man that can't even manage his own cabinet fit to manage a whole country?
2021 has taught us many things, but one thing that has become increasingly apparent to me throughout this hot, hot mess of a year is that our Prime Minister Scott Morrison is deathly afraid of calling anyone out, for anything, ever.
It goes without saying at this point that our Prime Minister’s backbone is a piece of cooked spaghetti when it comes to tackling serious issues like racism, the war crimes we committed in Afghanistan, and climate change, but 2021 has taught us that he can’t even muster up the courage to call out inappropriate behaviour in his own Parliament.
And that begs the question: is a man who can’t even manage his own cabinet fit to manage a whole country?
Let’s take a look at just some of the times Morrison didn’t hold anyone accountable, like…at all. Ever.
Morrison Simply “Suggests” Gerard Rennick Listens To Medical Experts
Earlier this week, we witnessed Liberal senator Gerard Rennick straight-up assert that providing the Pfizer vaccine for children is “completely irresponsible” — in yet another attempt to undermine the country’s vaccination efforts.
But instead of actually condemning Rennick, or serving some sort of consequences for constantly spreading medical misinformation in the middle of a deadly pandemic, Morrison simply “suggested” that the rogue senator start listening to experts.
“The prime minister and [his] office have repeatedly made clear directly and also publicly that decisions about the health of Australians are made based on the advice of our country’s medical experts,” a spokesperson for Morrison said in a statement to The Guardian. “The government will continue to listen to the medical experts on these issues and strong suggests senator Rennick does the same.”
George Christensen Faced No Repercussions For Comparing Quarantine To Auschwitz
Morrison offered a similar lacklustre response this week when George Christensen appeared on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ show, where he laughed about Australian quarantine facilities being compared to the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz.
While he denounced the comments in “the strongest possible terms”, Christensen faced no real consequences for what Labor has since described as “borderline treasonous.”
“The Holocaust was an evil abomination,” Morrison said in a statement. “Respect for the victims requires that it never be referenced in such a trivial and insensitive manner.”
Even Nationals MP Michael McCormack — who is very rarely the voice of reason — condemned the behaviour, calling it “reprehensible” and urging Morrison to pull him into line.
But this isn’t even new behaviour, since the start of the pandemic, Morrison and his government have danced around the issue of actually calling a spade a spade when it comes to the spread of harmful misinformation.
Craig Kelly Was Repeatedly Allowed To Spread Vaccine Misinformation On Facebook
When Craig Kelly first started spreading blatant misinformation and conspiracy theories regarding coronavirus and the COVID vaccines online, Morrison’s response was essentially a big ol’ agree to disagree.
“It is true that the views expressed by the Member for Hughes do not align with my views, or the views of the advice that has been provided to me by the Chief Medical Officer,” Morrison said at the time.
“Vaccination is critical. It is our primary responsibility this year, as we continue to respond to the pandemic.”
Even the Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher — whose jurisdiction covers online communications — dodged the question when asked about Kelly’s abundant spread of misinformation on social media, which has resulted in Facebook banning him from the platform entirely.
Malcolm Turnbull Called On Morrison To Do More To Counter Misinformation
Following Craig Kelly’s repeated spruiking of ivermectin as a COVID-19 cure, former PM Malcolm Turnbull and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly both called on the government to do more to prevent the spread of misinformation among elected officials.
“Craig Kelly is wrong and that it is reckless and irresponsible to be misleading the Australian public on matters of public health,” Turnbull said at the time. “Free speech, sure, but that doesn’t mean that just because somebody is exercising their right of free speech, it should go without comment or criticism.
“And if you have got a member of parliament pedalling misleading and dangerous information, then that, at the very least, needs to be called out and condemned and contradicted by the government.”
But despite multiple calls for Morrison to do more, he never did.
Morrison Himself Panders To Anti-Lockdown Protesters
Not to mention, in the midst of the violent “freedom” anti-lockdown protests that ravaged much of the country in recent months, Morrison gave nothing more than a lacklustre response that technically denounced the violence while simultaneously offering “sympathy” to the protesters.
Morrison claimed it was time for “Australians to take their lives back” and for state governments to have less strict pandemic management laws.
Again this week, Morrison has asserted that “none of these restrictions belong in the lives of Australians,” which is very clearly pandering to the anti-lockdown movement in such a way that still gives him plausible deniability if ever pressed on it.
“It’s not normal to keep track of where we’ve been, not be allowed to visit friends or relatives, to go to funerals and to weddings, or to go out to dinner or to the pub,” Morrison said on Tuesday morning following the Western Australia border announcements. “None of these restrictions belong in the lives of Australians.”
Sure, Morrison could condemn this behaviour that actively undermines the national efforts to quash a deadly pandemic, but in doing so, he risks losing those voters ahead of the 2022 federal election.