Politics

Apparently Scott Morrison Was “Gobsmacked” About The Gender Pay Gap, And People Aren’t Surprised

It's easy to believe with his track record -- however the PM has said Probyn’s claim is “demonstrably false"

by Merryana Salem  12 April 2021
scott-morrison-pay-gap

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A clip of Andrew Probyn from ABC’s Insiders went viral yesterday, where Probyn claims that PM Scott Morrison wasn’t aware of the gender pay gap.

Probyn’s exact claim was, “I’ve heard inside some of these [government] meetings Scott Morrison was gobsmacked there was even a gender pay gap, because he can’t understand why you would have women and men paid differently for doing the same job, and you’ve got some of his colleagues say, ‘Well, Prime Minister, that actually does happen.’”

The claim sent Aussie Twitter into overdrive. Many people, including MP Peta Murphy and fellow ABC journalist Julia Zemiro tweeted their scathing disappointment. While Morrison’s status as a man who cares about women as human beings isn’t the strongest, the PM has refuted the claim as false.

A spokesperson for the PM today said Probyn’s claim is “demonstrably false”. “The Prime Minister has for many years discussed and sought to directly address the gender pay gap in Australia.”

People were also quick to point out that Morrison tweeted about the gender pay gap back in 2018. But it’s worth examining why so many people found Probyn’s claim of Morrison’s ignorance to be legitimate, despite being pure hearsay.

Could it be because this man got up on national television and inferred the primary reason he cared there had been a rape in parliament was because his wife told him to? How about his comments that women should be grateful they aren’t being shot for protesting? Or the fact that he is yet to meet with Brittany Higgins?

What this reporter’s snafu and the reaction to it shows is that Scott Morrison’s comments about women in recent times and the prevailing culture of misogyny in parliament outweighs the Morrison government’s past stances. It will be a long road back for Morrison and his government to defy the strong cultural consensus that he cares about issues affecting women.