As we found when we first began detailing Scott Morrison’s relentless lying and falsehoods, one of the problems of being a serial misleader is that you have to keep doubling down on your lies, even when it’s obvious that you’re lying.
The Morrison who insisted he never ridiculed electric vehicles, and insisted it was a “Labor lie” that he ever had; the Morrison who said he’d never misspoken when he confused Taiwan for Hong Kong; the Morrison who repeatedly claimed he had a busy legislative agenda for 2019 but had to invent fictitious bills to fill it. This is a man caught out in a lie desperately trying to pretend he hasn’t.
Yesterday in his sanctimonious self-defence against censure for his secret multiple ministries, he continued to dig deeper. He’s misled Parliament before, as prime minister, and clearly had no compunctions in doing it again.
As Crikey noted on Monday, despite his best efforts to limit his participation in the Bell inquiry, Morrison couldn’t help himself and ended up in a nonsensical position on why he didn’t tell his closest colleagues about swearing himself into their ministries (or, as Morrison insists, in a distinction without a difference, appointed to administer their portfolios).
When the would-be hagiography by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers exploded in their faces, Morrison justified his secrecy from his own ministers by saying he didn’t want them to second guess themselves. And he justified his secrecy to the public by saying he didn’t want to alarm people and it would have been misinterpreted.
For the Bell inquiry, his lawyer explicitly pointed to those very statements as the core of his “participation” in the inquiry.
But Morrison went further, under written questions from Bell, and began claiming that, actually, he had assumed that the appointments were in fact gazetted and thus made public. On the one hand, Morrison claimed there was a good reason not to make them public, on the other, he’s assumed they’d been made public. Which was the lie?
As Bell noted, it’s a nonsensical position.
But Morrison kept on digging yesterday. He’s stuck with the ridiculous position that he thought everyone knew, despite saying it was his goal that they didn’t know. In addition to insisting “no instruction was given by me as prime minister or my office not to publish those arrangements in the gazette”, he claims he thought his office had told incoming finance minister Simon Birmingham — who replaced Mathias Cormann — about his own appointment, and only realised it hadn’t when the scandal blew up. Then the kicker:
Had I been asked about these matters at the time at the numerous press conferences I held, I would’ve responded truthfully about the arrangements I had put in place.
This is the equivalent of a corrupt politician declaring they would have answered truthfully if they’d ever been asked about all those bribes they secretly took. Does Morrison think we’re complete fools? Did he expect journalists to telepathically determine that he was holding multiple ministries and ask him about them? Must the press gallery now preface all prime ministerial press conferences with questions like, “How have you violated basic political norms this week”?
And what happened to the “it was good that no one knew I’d done it” line?
That all Coalition MPs but Bridget Archer lined up to endorse this horseshit shows how little they’ve moved on from the Morrison era. They knew Morrison was a relentless liar and breacher of basic democratic standards all along, but they readily tolerated it when he was prime minister and they tolerate it now, even after he humiliated their most senior figures.
“I will take the instruction of my faith and turn the other cheek,” Morrison says. Rarely, if ever, has a senior political figure so ostentatiously paraded his religious beliefs. Rarely has any politician so egregiously failed to live up to even the most basic requirements of those beliefs, such as not deceiving others.
Morrison stains Parliament every day he remains in it, a walking, talking example of contempt for integrity and accountability in politics.
By voting against the censure motion, the opposition, with the exception of Bridget Archer, was effectively stating they didn’t think what Morrison had done was wrong.
Too cynical! Thy were showing they don’t think about right and wrong, winning and point-scoring is all that matters.
They are beyond good and evil. They despise morality. Right and wrong are beneath them, because they are superior to such notions. It’s similar to the idea that a liar must know the truth in order replace it with falsehoods, but a bullsihtter does not care at all what is true or false and enjoys the freedom to say anything that suits the purpose, so the Liberals, and Morrison is the best example, have also risen above any consideration for right and wrong. They do as they will.
Yes Griselda you are quite right.
But consider this, how many of those LNP grubs knew that what Morrison did was gravely and morally wrong and yet were too gutless to find a spine and do what Bridget Archer did? Yet these are the very same low life’s who stare daggers at Archer for putting her sense of values front and foremost in her action regarding the censure motion. The other gutless wonders sold out whatever values they may have had in order to ‘save’ themselves from the retribution of their cronies.
I also wonder how many of these democratically elected members even gave a passing thought as to how the ordinary Australians in their electorates’ would have wanted then to vote on this issue? So they also trash the supposed reason for there even being in such privileged positions in the first that is the duty to faithfully represent the views/position of those they are meant to serve.
The sooner this pile of bile passes through the system the better. Although if you are a ALP supporter you may wish that they endure for a long time thus maintaining the putrid odour coming out of the LNP.
The use of the expression “morally wrong” explains it all. They are all, with the exception of Archer, amoral. They have no clue. As a group they are Labor’s best weapon at the next election.
Weird mix of “we accept all the recommendations which point to the actions being wrong” but let’s just avoid recriminations (of the kind we indulged in re Rudd and Gillard Royal Comm’s)”. Loved some Lib dron on ABC TV attacking the “nastiness” of criticising Morrison then without blushing, when asked about colleague Bridget Archer supporting the censure gushed about the fab Lib tradition of members being free to act….in a nasty way.
Further, some in the Liberal party, say Stuart Robert, might reflect on the $80M RC into Unions that deliberately targeted Shorten with loaded terms and a Lib-friendly Dyson Haydon, and still couldn’t land any decent smears, such that it was released at 8pm on a Friday.
If the Censure of Scomo is a stunt, it rates very low on the rankings.
Some LibHoR Members must have been highly torn at being manipulated into his defense. Andrews and Archer were the only conscientious objectors, but with just two MPs taking any issue with the ‘defend the legacy’ line, it doesn’t provide much hope for any resurrection of Liberal values.
The Teals just got a through validation of their raison d’etre.
Do you really think that in abstaining Andrews was a conscientious objector? That’s a lot less than Archer did speaking in support of the censure with a concise and meaningful speech and then crossing the floor?
I think Andrews was likely attempting to protect her career with a bet each way.
Dead right. But although Morrison is indeed a stain on Parliament, it is better that he stays there for as long as his party, with only one or two exceptions, continues to defend him and refuses to accept that he repeatedly and deliberately damaged our system of government. They are as guilty as he is. This should remind everyone that the Coalition as a whole shares responsibility for what happened, and many of Morrison’s colleagues have often acted equally badly. Lest we forget… Morrison keeps rubbing our noses in it. Good.
This verse from a familar song might almost have been inspired by Morrison:
You keep lying when you ought to be truthing
You keep losing when you ought to not bet
You keep saming when you ought to be changing
Now what’s right is right, but you ain’t been right yet
Morrison’s behaviour and actions as PM were an extension of his behaviour and actions when he was CEO of Tourism NZ and CEO of Tourism Australia. He was sacked from both jobs for keeping his ministers in the dark, thus accruing power to himself, and for financial irregularities, ie cutting corners without informing his colleagues.
The runs were on the board. Sacked twice from Govt jobs, including the second time by his own party. And then John Howard resurrected him with a job at NSW Lib HQ, from where he was able to white ant Michael Towke’s preselection in favour of himself.
As Gladys justifiably said, he’s a “horrible, horrible man”. That the Liberal Party was prepared to ignore, overlook, excuse or forgive his track record says as much about the current state of the Liberal Party as the promotion of Mark Latham said about Labor 20 years ago.
John Howard again.
The man who never would have been prime minister without Paul Keating keeping Hewson out of the job. Crown of Thorns rules.
Morrison has proven to be a very successful psychopath – he conned so many voters but more so his party and cabinet!. He remains a very dangerous person who will continue to stop at nothing to achieve control and influence no matter what.
Lets hope he trips up soon and ends up in prison……
In prison Morrison will still be taxpayer-supported, I’d rather he stays in Parliament as long as the voters of Cook will inflict him on the nation so that the rest of us know to keep voting Liberal Party candidates out.
Even worserer……………
……..in prison, Morrison would still be drawing his wildly excessive Parliamentary Pension.
Surely if he was convicted of a crime and in prison, he wouldn’t be entitled to that? And if not, we need to be changing the laws.
Even the voters of Cook deserve better
Superb. Sublime. Eloquent. Thank you, David.
well said BK, well said. Do you feel liking shouting: “I told you so”. Could see this coming right from the ‘I have always believed in miracles’ victory speech. WTF Australia. Equivalent to the Republican/Trump insanity.