After so much criticism of his holidaying during national crises, you have to acknowledge that Scott Morrison stuck to his job through summer.
Certainly he showed an admirable commitment to lying — not taking a break through the holidays from misleading voters.
And he farewelled 2021 — truly his annus dolosus — with another whopper.
As rapid antigen tests disappeared from view and attention turned to how the government had yet again stuffed up a key procurement moment in the pandemic, the prime minister was pressured on whether they should be made free, with the Omicron variant spreading like, well, a plague, and given the collapse in PCR testing over the holidays.
Turns out, Morrison wasn’t having a bar of that. Why not? Because it would undercut private suppliers. And they’d told him that, he claimed. On December 30, he told journalists:
Anyone else who would like to get a rapid antigen test, well, you go along to your pharmacy or to the supermarket or the warehouse, a whole, big suppliers, where we believe, as a result of making this change and being very clear about who is being provided with a public test and who is not, all the private industry who gave us that advice this week, they can go now, they can book their supplies, they can get them on the shelves and not have any concern that somehow a new policy will come in and tests will be be handed out to anybody who wants one.
But private industry denied giving Morrison any such advice, that week or any other, as Guardian Australia discovered. Pathology Technology Australia, which represents most RAT suppliers, said it “doesn’t matter to us whether they’re free, subsidised or some other thing”. Pharmacy Guild head Trent Twomey added: “That’s not a conversation he had with us.”
And in any event, with RATs still scarce four weeks later, this concern-free booking of supplies has yet to materialise.
The thing about lying is that partisan supporters can just choose to ignore it, or believe the lie. That’s how partisanship works.
That’s why Edward R Murrow confronted Joe McCarthy not by calling him a fascist, but by airing McCarthy’s own words exclusively, and then giving him 28 minutes on air to make his own statement. The technique is called “enough rope”, and it lead to McCarthy’s relatively swift downfall.
As a journalist, could you go back to Morrison and ask him to clarify who he meant when he said “all the private industry who gave us that advice this week“? Just ask him. “Who?” Video it and post it, please.
While you’re there, could you also ask him about his comment to Ben Fordham implying that Mehdi Ali is not a refugee? He said ““They may have sought asylum and been found not to be a refugee and have chosen not to return, and … that happens in this country, people aren’t found to be refugees and they won’t return.” Just ask him specifically if Mehdi Ali has refugee status, and then ask him when it was determined. Then ask Mr Morrison, “If you had been granted refugee status at age 15, how might you feel about being stuck in a hotel room for the next 8 years? How would you cope with that, psychologically, Mr Morrison? What would you do?” Please post the response to that too.
Good luck with getting a straight answer to a simple question from him.
“I reject the premise of the question”. (The premise being that I am answerable to the likes of you, you miserable peasant.)
That. Followed swiftly by “Oh that’s such a Canberra bubble question “ as he lumbers off stage right
Pharmacies have been left having to procure RATs at exorbitant prices themselves. Pharmacies as it turns out, are losing up to $7.50 on each rapid antigen test under the fed government’s concession cardholder scheme. How is that fair? Scotty’s failures continue to let people and businesses down each and every day.
most local pharmacies are not the big end o town, and we have to be more like the USA were the user pays what ever the supplier wants to charge. One must remember it is a market economy of supply and demand and those who control the supply can charge what they like to increase their profits and how much they give out. Just look at the supply of diamonds and their cost.
In the USA the government are, I believe, supplying tests free of charge.
Without exception every pharmacy I have visited or walked past since Xmas has had a sign at the entrance stating there is no stock of RATS.
So where are these (mythical) pharmacies of which Morrison speaks?
Has there ever been a more dim-witted, unprofessional, gibberish-speaking, disorganised speech-maker than our own Dear Leader?
Every single time I read a verbatim quote from him, I’m absolutely astounded that this person has so much control over so many people – and that more importantly, he’s still in office.
Now if it was Albanese making these totally ridiculous comments on a daily basis……?
I’ve noticed Albanese is getting some air time lately. Must be the weight he’s lost. Couldn’t be that the journos are sniffing the wind?
Seen to be “backing winners”.
If, as soon as he wins they’ll slip back into anti-Labor overdrive – as when Rudd won.
“NY strip club”, “Utegate”, “tanties on a plane”, “tanties with Lilly Fontana (SKY hired make-up artist)”.
‘Bush & the “What’s the G20″‘ – leaked after a Murdoch Muppet was sharing some Kirribilli “friends” down-time?