From Michelle Gratten ABC Online News 12-Nov-21 … Sean Kelly, columnist and former staffer for Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, writes in his just-published The Game: A Portrait of Scott Morrison, that the PM, “never feels, in himself, insincere or untruthful, because he always means exactly what he says; it is just that he means it only in the moment he is saying it. Past and future disappear.”
Just what does this mean? In short, Morrison tells lies, possibly unconsciously. For example, yesterday (Thursday Nov 18) Morrison said that the government would not support mandatory vaccines. Today, Morrison says that all health workers should have mandatory vaccine … is one of these a porky or is it confusion? No-one, with the probable exception of Morrison, knows which one at this stage!
On a more serious level, the available evidence in the French submarine contract saga points to an out and out lie by Morrison. He quite obviously did not give respectful or adequate notice to President Macron that Australia was pulling out of the contact. President Biden felt obliged to France to chip in, fairly diplomatically, by saying Australia’s retraction was “clumsy”.
In the following weeks there has been no hint of an apology from Morrison or Australia. In Morrison’s world things move along fairly quickly, so it’s no surprise to hear Morrison, Joyce and various other government heavyweights expressing bewilderment that France was STILL aggrieved. Australia has humiliated France and for that we should all be ashamed. However the more fundamental and disturbing issues are that :
- Australia has a belligerent attitude and has almost certainly lost respect and trust from many former friends and allies.
- Morrison did not tell the truth, and it’s doubtful there was anything “unconscious” about that!