Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret appointment of himself to five ministerial portfolios in the name of (but not limited to) the pandemic has not gone unnoticed beyond these shores. Global news publications have tapped into the politics of power centralisation, overreach and exploitation, heralding Morrison’s behaviour as a cautionary tale.
US media
The editorial board for The Financial Times added Morrison’s name to a list of global “greats”, stating that although “tame in comparison”, lessons “need to be learnt” from his actions.
The pandemic provided the perfect fig leaf for strongmen in more authoritarian systems to amass power. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán wasted no time during the pandemic to gain the right to rule by decree, with no time limit. China’s Xi Jinping has relentlessly tightened his grip after overseeing some of the strictest and widespread controls on movement the world has ever seen. Even established democracies have not been immune to power grabs over the past two years, most flagrantly that of Donald Trump. The Morrison affair may seem tame in comparison, but it is a reminder of the need for vigilance in shoring up the processes and institutions of democracies.
UK media
From our constitutional godfathers in the UK, Australian-based Terry Barnes writing for The Spectator said that the saga was “fair enough, on the face of it” but that was as deep as their empathy extended.
Morrison acted with a secrecy that disgraced US president Richard Nixon would have approved of, and then seemingly expected to be praised for it afterwards. It has shown his contempt for not only open government, but for the concept of Westminster-style ministerial responsibility.
More European perspectives
A podcast from global outlet The Monocle provided this scathing analysis: “It has transpired that during the period Morrison was airily declaring that many things were not his job, a much greater number of things were his job than was generally appreciated. For reasons surpassing the understanding of, at last count, the entire Australian and political and media class and the Australian population generally, while serving as prime minister Morrison had the governor-general swear him into five additional cabinet portfolios.”
As the host quipped: “In fairness, who among us has not concurrently held the second- and third-most powerful jobs in their country and forgotten all about it?”
NZ media
Over in Australia 2.0 (aka New Zealand) Brigitte Morten writing for Stuff said that the constitutional similarities of the two nations mean New Zealand is not immune from such a scenario.
Australia and New Zealand share similar systems of government based in the Westminster tradition of a balance of power. So while Morrison’s behaviour may seem bizarre, it raises the question about whether it could or would happen here.
Morten acknowledged the Kiwi system has safeguards in place to “discourage secrecy”, but reiterated that “really this all relies on a respect from our government for the rule of law”.
“It would be easy to dismiss the question by stating that is just not how we do things here. But based on the outrage across the Tasman, it clearly was not the way they do things either,” she said.
Has Morrison tarnished Australia on the world stage, or just himself? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
Has Morrison tarnished Australia on the world stage, or just himself?
Australians elected the weirdo, who throughout his campaign and incumbency posed as an Australian (as Hi Vis and a beer was what we were all about) and filled the cabinet with religious nutbags which really does not seem like this
s country to me. He was like Jimmy Saville: how could anyone not see the gross repulsiveness. He gave God a bad name. But this dumbarse country elected him, so there is the answer to your question. America’s got Trump, we got Scomo: Trump without the honesty. Yeah, its embarrassing, but it was a lot worse than mere embarrassment We need a royal commission in the government’s handling of the plague.
SM believed that the tall poppy syndrome didn’t apply to him, not really. God, Jesus and the holy spirit never suffered from the blight.
I don’t think we have suffered from his blindness too much. America and Trump are not the same. Putin and Russia are not the same etc.
Not so as Smirko and Brother Stuie RobDebt, Hawke et al. who were in a so called government are Pentecostalists with a chiliastic eschatology that has all the true believers, that is those that are Pentecostalists will be taken from the earth by The Rapture.
While all others, atheists together with those that follow any other religion, Christian or otherwise will be subject to The Great Tribulation…where they will all experience worldwide hardships, disasters, famine, war, pain, and suffering, which will wipe out most of all life on the earth before the Second Coming takes place.
Smirko et al. in their hearts – unlike the overwhelming majority of Australians – are not concerned with the prospect of any coming catastrophe when their own salvation is assured?
There is no place for science and no recognition of human-induced global heating in Pentecostal theology. There would apparently be no point in mortal Pentecostals trying to listen and respond to the cry of the Earth because the fate of our planet and its life is considered out of their hands.
Such adherence strongly influenced their policies and inactions regarding global warming and other matters.
A minor correction – only ScoMo’s electorate got to vote. Blame them.
As far as him being PM – that rests directly on the shoulders of all in the coalition who continued to support the demented man.
I used to support a Republic – after seeing the disaster of Trump, I’ll stick with what we have got – with a few serious accountability tweaks to our Constitution.
I suspect ScoMo will be ‘tealed’ at the next election – that’s why Dutton doesn’t want to lose him – yet.
A Republic model can also be tweaked to be what the community desires. We do not have to replicate the American Constitution.
See above for how he managed to be assisted into the seat of Cook, despite being the least wanted!
Please … Some Australians elected this Pentecostal nutjob knowing what he was.
Not all. Many warned what a grifter he was and what could happen..
However, I don’t think any really thought he would go all out on the ‘god chose me to do this and this .. and this … and yes, this and this..’ schtick..
Both he and Healy must be kicked out.
The Liberal Party needs to take a deep breath, admit they were suckered by this loathsome con-man and ditch him from the Party. Otherwise his stench will cloud around all Liberals, decent or otherwise, for a very long time. There’s no harm in admitting we were suckered. We’ve all had to do it at some stage in our lives. Most atheists will understand what I’m saying. But terrible harm comes if we submit to self-delusion and pretend he isn’t as bad as the facts prove, just so we can avoid the humiliation of admitting we were wrong. That’s the definition of delusional, and there’s no returning it.
But they have had other examples Abbott comes to mind!
He is an incompetent villain in every incarnation within the Scomoverse.
Morrison claims to have had many ‘contacts’ with US Secretary of State, Pompeo. Were these ‘contacts’ recorded (as they should have been) or were they purely personal in which only the weather, religion and ‘how’s your father’ were discussed? There are national security implications in our officials having contact with those of foreign governments
Another Christian nutter…Mr. Pompeo talks about the rapture. “We will continue to fight these battles,” he said at a God and Country Rally in 2015, because there is a “never-ending struggle” until “the rapture.”
“Be part of it,” he said at the meeting, at the Summit church in Wichita, Kan. “Be in the fight.”
In November, Mr. Pompeo in a report to The New York Times Magazine that the Bible “informs everything I do.” The reporter noticed an open Bible in his office, with a Swiss Army knife marking his place at the end of the book of Queen Esther.
Pompeo became a devoted Christian at West Point, where he joined a Bible study group. After moving to Kansas, he joined the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a relatively conservative denomination.
But he now appears to have move el out of the realm of reality. like Smirko,
As an addendum to my earlier comment, the essential lesson here is to NEVER VOTE FOR A PERSON WHO TAKES THEIR DIRECTIONS FROM A “HIGHER POWER”. Higher Power is nothing more than delusional-speak for “I will do whatever makes me feel good because I’ve decided I’m accountable only to the myth I’ve created in my head. Other laws don’t matter. I am literally HIGHER THAN THE LAW”.
We can’t stop citizens worshiping their myths; all we humans have a submissive sub-routine in our minds due to our being sexual animals, and may enjoy the feeling of worshiping someone or something. It’s a flaw in our brain development that evolution is yet to remedy, and is easily hijacked by con-men and con-women to convince us to do their bidding. There are plenty examples around the world today and throughout history where utter devastation ensues from submitting to nonsense preached by charismatic people. We’ve actually been quite lucky because Mr Morrison isn’t very good at it, although we don’t know what his future plans were. A politico/military coup isn’t that difficult to imagine. Oddly enough I wrote a novel in 2005 about this very scenario. Pure luck – I’m no clairvoyant. But the writing was on the wall even back then. I won’t advertise here, but if you’re interested, Google my name and coup
The point is we must be vigilant and make sure we don’t vote such con-men/women into power.