Politics

Junk Explained: Why The Fuck Is Scott Morrison Fighting With News Corp?

Between lying about a sexual harassment case, to trying to use that case to make himself look better, to having to apologise to the fake woman he invented, it's been a real rough 24 hours for ScoMo.

by Michelle Rennex  24 March 2021
Scott Morrison News Corp

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Following one of the most chaotic press conferences in recent memory, Scott Morrison felt the need to drop a late-night public apology at 11 pm last night.

In a very strange turn of events, this apology was actually directed at News Corp and a fictitious woman, after the publication slammed the Prime Minister over his false claims of sexual harassment within their business to deflect from his own shortcomings.

But how the hell did we even get to this point, where Australia is actually siding with a Murdoch company and ScoMo is publicly apologising to people he invented? Let’s dissect:

Why Did Scott Morrison Even Hold A Press Conference?

Yesterday Scott Morrison held a press conference to address the alarming number of allegations that have come out in the last month regarding sexual misconduct in Parliament House.

However, while the presser worked to address the issues with the general culture within Canberra, it was actually sparked by the most recent allegations involving one Liberal staffer and the desk of a female MP.

On Monday night, after a whistleblower approached media, 10 News reported that there was allegedly a group of Liberal staffers in Canberra who would routinely film themselves performing sex acts in Parliament House and share this footage among themselves.

Within this group, the insider claimed that there was one unidentified man who filmed himself masturbating on the desk of a female colleague. The insider also alleged that the Parliament House prayer and meditation room was used for “a lot” of sex, and that female and male sex workers would often be brought to Parliament House “for the pleasure of Coalition MPs”.

Following the report, which the internet rightfully dubbed WankGate, the desk wanker was sacked and Scott Morrison put out a statement condemning the “disgusting and sickening” actions of those involved.

The next morning, ScoMo felt the need to address the concerning number of sexual assault and misconduct allegations regarding government staff that have cropped up over the last month through a press conference.

“I’m shocked, and I’m disgusted. It is shameful. It is just absolutely shameful. I was completely stunned, as I have been on more than one occasion over the course of this last month,” the Prime Minister started the presser.

“We must get this house in order. We must put the politics aside on these things and we must recognise this problem, acknowledge it, and we must fix it. This has been a very traumatic month.”

This trauma that Scott Morrison is referring to started on February 15 when ex-Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins bravely went public with claims that she was raped in Parliament House by a male colleague. Then, after Higgins came forward with her story, three more women alleged that the same man had sexually assaulted them between 2016 to 2020, with claims ranging from rape to sexual assault to inappropriate and unwelcome touching.

While the case was dropped and Scott Morrison refused to conduct any independent inquiries into the historical allegations, parliament was also rocked by another scandal on March 3 when accusations against Attorney-General Christian Porter resurfaced.

During the press conference, the Prime Minister went on to say that he was “equally shocked and stunned” to learn about what Brittany Higgins had gone through, and the reality that Australian women are regularly forced to put up with.

“This is not something that is of a scale that any government can simply change, it is something we must change as a society because we know it happens all over this country,” Morrison said. “But for me and my house… we must take responsibility. It’s our problem here, it’s our responsibility here, and I’m committed to dealing with that.”

“We must do better in this place, all of us. And in our country we must do better.”

The Prime Minister also owned up to things and addressed his own questionable responses to the Parliament rape allegations and the March 4 Justice rallies by saying that “no offence was intended” by anything he had said.

Of course, ScoMo was referencing the valid criticism people had of the Prime Minister having to talk to his wife Jenny and think of his daughters to fully understand why the alleged rape of a woman is inherently bad, and his incredibly tone-deaf statement that other people marching overseas were “being met with bullets”.

However, the Prime Minister also tearfully stood by his decision to speak to, and about, the women in his life as “they are the centre” of his life who motivate him “every day on this issue”.

To end the press conference, before diving into media questions, Scott Morrison also made sure to toot his own horn by stating that he had “put more women in my Cabinet than any other Prime Minister ever has before”.

“There has never been a more important time for women to stand in this place,” Morrison ended his speech. “I want to see more women in this place. I have done many things to get more women in this place and I intend to do more.”

So, How Come Scott Morrison And News Corp Are Fighting?

The NewsCorp and ScoMo drama actually started during the question portion of the press conference.

Despite a relatively positive press conference, the Prime Minister decided to undo everything by bringing up an alleged sexual harassment claim within News Corp when he started to feel the heat.

When asked about his job potentially being in jeopardy because of just how many incidents had occurred under his watch, Scott Morrison immediately lost his cool and tried to deflect blame by implying News Corp had a track record just as bad as his own.

“Prime Minister, if you were the boss of a business and there’d been an alleged rape on your watch and this incident we heard about last night, on your watch, your job would probably be in a bit of jeopardy, wouldn’t it? Doesn’t it look like you’ve lost control of your ministerial staff here?” asked Sky News journalist, Andrew Connell.

“Well, I’ll let you editorialise as you like, Andrew. But if anyone in this room wants to offer up the standards in their own workplace by comparison I’d invite you to do so,” responded Morrison, before Connell suggested that media standards would likely be better than the governments.

“Well let me take you up on that. Right now, you’d be aware that in your own organisation that there is a person who has had a complaint made against them for harassment of a woman in a women’s toilet. And that matter is being pursued by your own HR department,” ScoMo continued as Connell shared that he was actually not aware of it.

“You are not aware of it,” the Prime Minister snapped. “So let’s not, all of us who sit in glass houses here, start getting into that.”

Scott Morrison then continued to shift blame by stating that “no one individual can be overwatch on every inch of this place every second of the day” and that certain events that add to “a long-standing culture of despicable behaviour” had occurred before his time as Prime Minister.

“So that is not something that I could be directly held accountable, even when I wasn’t in the role,” Morrison ended his response. “What I am held accountable [for] is what I do nowadays what I am outlining to you today.”

“So you’re free to make your criticisms and to stand on that pedestal, but be careful.”

Unfortunately for ScoMo, the Australian public did not side with him. Instead, people quickly pointed out how disgusting it was that Scott Morrison attempted to weaponise another woman’s alleged trauma in an attempt to deflect from his own shortcomings as Prime Minister.

Even stranger, people couldn’t quite understand why Morrison would be across an apparent sexual harassment case within another company, yet claimed to have not been aware of the alleged rape of a staffer within Parliament House.

But really Scott Morrison’s attempts to divert attention away from his own failures backfired completely because News Corp came out with their own statement yesterday entirely denying that any such sexual harassment claim existed.

“Prime Minister Scott Morrison was wrong today to claim an investigation is underway into a complaint accusing an employee of harassment against a woman in a female toilet,” a statement from News Corp Australia’s executive chairman, Michael Miller, read.

“In recent weeks, following the reporting of matters of sexually inappropriate behaviour at Parliament House, our HR team proactively gave our staff the opportunity to talk to us in confidence about their well-being,” the statement continued.

“During these proactive conversations, the News Corp’s HR team learned of a verbal exchange between two News Corp employees in Parliament House in Canberra last year,” Miller clarified. “The exchange was about a workplace-related issue, it was not of a sexual nature, it did not take place in a toilet and neither person made a complaint.”

“The Prime Minister appears to have joined these two matters and conflated them into an episode of harassment in a toilet that is under current investigation,” the statement ended.

“This is simply untrue and it undermines the principle that people must be able to raise issues safely and in confidence.”

What Did Scott Morrison Say And What’s Happening Now?

As a result of being just so painfully and blatantly wrong, Scott Morrison issued an 11 pm apology last night, which is never really a good sign coming from the leader of a country.

In the Facebook post, ScoMo said that he “accepted [News Corp’s] account” of events, and apologised to the woman at the centre of the harassment claim — the woman who he invented in an attempt to make himself look better.

“I deeply regret my insensitive response to a question from a News Ltd journalist by making an anonymous reference to an incident at News Ltd that has been rejected by the company,” the Prime Minister wrote. “I accept their account. I was wrong to raise it, the emotion of the moment is no excuse.”

“I especially wish to apologise to the individual at the centre of the incident and others directly impacted. I had no right to raise this issue and especially without their permission,” Morrison continued.

“What matters now is doing everything in my authority to take the actions that are needed to fix the culture in our Parliament and work to make Australia a safer place for women.”

As for what’s happening between Scott Morrison and News Corp now, News Corp haven’t released any further statements but have blasted the Prime Minister using the front covers of this morning’s editions of The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun. 

With the papers calling ScoMo both “Sco-D’oh” and “Sco-woe” to highlight how the Prime Minister used “tears and smears” to “weaponise” false harassment claims to deflect from the sexual allegations plaguing Parliament House, it’s not looking like Murdoch-run News Corp and Scott Morrison are going to be back on good terms any time soon.

But, hey. At least Rupert Murdoch got a speedy apology with ScoMo taking accountability, which is a lot better than how he’s handled most of what’s happened in the last month.

Michelle Rennex is a senior writer at Junkee. She tweets at @michellerennex.