Snapshot of former Australian prime minister & Liberal MP for Cook (far right) with his former deputy prime minister & Nationals MP for New England Barnaby Joyce (far left) belatedly swearing the Oath of Allegiance in the House of Representatives on Monday, 1 August 2022. IMAGE: Snapshot of House of Representatives video segment.
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| Sleeping on the job? IMAGE: via @BronwynHill1 |
As useless as a screen door on a submarine, Scott Morrison is AGAIN overseas (likely paid by us!) while his seat of Cook is washed away. #auspol #thedrum #abc730 pic.twitter.com/aVzfEPMKJy
— C h r i s 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 🌏 🌲 🖤💛❤️ (@ChrisHeHim1) July 14, 2022
Cronulla Beach, July 2022
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| Final Notice Of Eviction for former tenant "ScoMo" signed by The Chaser. The former prime minister finally departed the premises on Friday, 3 June 2022 - 13 days after the nation evicted his government. |
The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 March 2022, excerpts from article by Niki Savva, political commentator, author, former staffer to past prime minister John Howard and past treasurer Peter Costello:
Scott Morrison is kidding himself if he thinks the South Australian election was decided only on state issues, that his standing had no bearing on the vote, and that what happened last weekend can’t be replicated federally.
The Morrison factor was definitely there, and it was big enough to unsettle even more Liberals about their prospects with him at the helm. The result has increased the muttering about regime change.
“He is definitely on the nose here,” one South Australian Liberal said, adding Morrison was a drag on their ticket. Sure Steven Marshall was up against an articulate, charismatic young leader who ran a clever campaign. It still doesn’t explain the extent of the swings in Liberal seats, an omen perhaps for inner urban federal Liberals under threat from independents or Labor.
It’s no good Morrison saying Anthony Albanese is no Mark McGowan and no Peter Malinauskas. Nor is he.
The Prime Minister needed clear air before and after that morale-destroying result to set the scene for the federal budget, which remains the government’s last hope to recover ground. Instead, the focus has been the sordid campaign following the untimely death of Kimberley Kitching.
With so many other issues demanding his attention, including sorting the cost-of-living package in the budget, flood reparations, additional help for Ukraine, uncompleted Liberal NSW preselections, not to mention the bullying accusations levelled against him, Morrison should have kept his distance……
As well as being smart and ambitious, Kitching was a tough player who revelled in political intrigue, making enemies as easily as she made friends. She loved the nickname “Mata Hari” bestowed on her by a Labor MP, a mate, who admired her for not toeing the line, who also warned her to be careful she did not cross that line.
He reckons she never complained to him about her treatment, except that she wanted to be restored to Labor’s Senate tactics committee, from which she had been dismissed. “She was tough, she didn’t want people holding her hand,” he said. “She didn’t ask anyone to feel sorry for her.”
Kitching lost the trust of many on her own side. She was suspected of leaking and undermining colleagues, not only by briefing media – so far Chris Uhlmann and Andrew Bolt have publicly revealed Kitching told them she was concerned Wong would be weak on China – but Coalition MPs, former Liberal Party officials and even senior staff in the Prime Minister’s office.
Politicians leak. And they do have friends across the aisle. But the breadth and depth of hers fed the distrust. The crunch came in June last year when then defence minister Linda Reynolds said in Senate estimates she had been forewarned by a Labor senator she would face questioning over the alleged rape of former staffer Brittany Higgins.
In private meetings later, to prove she was not making it up, Reynolds went so far as to produce for Wong, Gallagher and Keneally, video footage from the Senate chamber showing Kitching approaching her months before in early February before prayers. Reynolds told them this was when Kitching first told her the tactics committee had discussed it and planned to weaponise the alleged rape.
Reynolds also showed them subsequent text messages she had received from Kitching effectively confirming their initial conversation.
The matter had not been discussed in tactics, something Reynolds later accepted, so Kitching’s leak was actually not true. This was a sackable offence in anyone’s language. Kitching was dropped from tactics. Fearing ongoing leaks to their opponents or media, it was no wonder they restricted her access and contact with her……
The final words on this belong to Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent, first elected to Parliament in 1990, who lost in 1993, was re-elected in 1996, defeated again in 1998, then came back in 2004.
He knows how brutal politics can be, particularly for those like himself who go against the leader or the party line on issues, in his case, on refugees. Broadbent knew and liked Kitching, but has been dismayed such odious insinuations and allegations have flowed from her death.
“Politics breaks people’s hearts. It doesn’t stop their hearts from beating,” he said.
“Questions remain for Albanese and Labor despite his insistence that there was no complaint from Kitching about bullying, however, there is still something unseemly about a prime minister facing so many critical issues getting embroiled in a brutal fight ignited by the death of an opposition politician, particularly as one of his cabinet ministers was a central figure in Kitching’s dismissal from the tactics committee.
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| Apology to the Stolen Generations A section of the invited guests, Australian Parliament, Wednesday, 13 February 2008 IMAGE:Mark Baker/AFP/Getty Images in The Guardian |
On 14 February 2022 the Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook, Scott Morrison, rose to his feet in the House of Representatives to acknowledge the 14th anniversary of the 13 February 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generations given by then Prime Minister & Labor MP for Griffith, Kevin Rudd.
In part Morrison’s speech stated:
“Mr Speaker, we are on a journey to make peace with our past. And it’s a difficult journey and it is an important one, to draw together the past, the present, and future, so we can truly be one and free.
We belong to a story - from time immemorial, a continent that contends with us all, and the work of building a strong, sovereign and vibrant democracy that gives us all a voice.
But we don’t seek to sugarcoat this story. We don’t turn aside from the injustices, contentions and abrasions. That’s what successful liberal democracies do. We must remember if we are to shape the future, and to do so wisely.
So as we do this at this time every year, we remember the Stolen Generations. Children taken from their parents. I say it again, children taken from their parents. No parent, no child could fail to understand the devastation of that, regardless of whatever their background is. Children taken from their parents. Families and communities torn apart. Again and again and again.
With that trauma, disconnection, and unquenching pain, came a national shame and a deep wound. Separated from country, from kinship, from family, from language, from identity. Becoming even strangers to themselves.
Fourteen years have passed since we had said sorry here in this place.
Sorry for the cold laws that broke apart families.
Sorry for the brutalities that were masked even under the guise of protection and even compassion.
Sorry for believing that Indigenous people were not capable of stewarding their own lives.
Sorry for the failure to respect, to understand, to appreciate.
Sorry for the lives damaged and destroyed.
So on this day, and every year since, we are right to remind ourselves of times past - not to re-ignite the coals of pain, or to bring division where there are the beginnings of healing, but to be mindful of the lessons learned. To turn again from the great Australian silence, and towards each other.
And to again say: we are sorry.
And as I said when I spoke in support of the original motion here in this place on the other side of the Chamber 14 years ago, sorry can never be given without any expectation of forgiveness. But there can be hope.
I said an apology “involves … standing in the middle ground exposed, vulnerable and seeking forgiveness”.
Forgiveness is never earned or deserved. It can never be justified on the simple weighing of hurts and grievance. Such measures will never rationally tip the balance in favour of forgiveness.
Forgiveness transcends all of that. It’s an act of grace. It’s an act of courage. And it is a gift that only those who have been wounded, damaged and destroyed can offer.
I also said fourteen years ago, “sorry is not the hardest word to say, the hardest is I forgive you”.
But I do know that such a path of forgiveness does lead to healing. It does open up a new opportunity. It does offer up release from the bondage of pain and suffering that no simple apology on its own can achieve.
And nor do I believe that such forgiveness is a corporate matter. It can only begin with the individual. And forgiveness does not mean forgetting. Nor does it mean that there are not consequences for actions, and the need for redress and restitution.
This is a hard conversation. I know that Danny Abdallah, who together with his wife Leila knows a lot about loss and grief, and they have begun this conversation with Indigenous community leaders through the i4Give you foundation that he has established in memory of their children Antony, Angelina and Sienna and their niece [Veronique].
Out of great tragedy and loss there can rise hope. And I wish them all the very best for these conversations.” [my yellow highlighting]
The response to Morrison’s words on "forgiveness" was immediate.
Our official* response to what Scott Morrison said today:
— First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria (@firstpeoplesvic) February 14, 2022
*polite pic.twitter.com/DRsrdGvcV1
The text of an email being sent by the Woolworths Group on Friday, 7 January 2022:
Dear [redacted],
On behalf of the whole team at Woolworths, I’d like to wish you a very Happy New Year and hope that you were able to enjoy the festive period.
As we welcome in 2022, it’s clear that we are entering a very different phase of COVID, not least because of the high levels of community transmission associated with Omicron.
When you’re shopping with us at the moment, you might unfortunately have noticed gaps on shelf, or substitutions in your online order. Unlike the surge buying of early 2020 (who could forget the toilet paper), this is because of the number of people in our supply chain in isolation – from suppliers to truck drivers and distribution centre team members – which in turn is causing material delays to store deliveries. To give you a sense of the magnitude of the challenge, we are experiencing COVID-driven absences of 20%+ in our distribution centres and 10%+ in our stores. [my yellow highlighting]
NSW is currently the most affected, although we are seeing impacts across the whole country, and it’s not yet clear how soon the system will come back into balance as we move through the Omicron wave.
We understand how frustrating it is when you can’t find the product you’re looking for and, together with our suppliers and supply chain partners, we’re working hard to get all products back on shelf as quickly as we can (including Rapid Antigen Tests).
In the meantime, we have more than enough stock in the system and plenty more coming. We also have good supply within each ‘category’ of product (even if your favourite isn’t available, a good alternative hopefully should be), so it really helps if you can be flexible with the choices you make. We would of course also ask you to keep shopping as you normally would and to continue to show kindness to our teams.
If you’re shopping online, as a temporary measure we are automatically activating substitutions on all orders. We know this isn’t ideal, but it does mean there’s less chance of missing out on something you really need. We’ll revert to your preference as soon as possible.
As we transition to living with COVID in 2022, we’ll need to keep learning and adapting. We’ll communicate any changes to our settings as they arise so that we can keep providing the safest possible way for you to enjoy everything you’d expect from Today’s Fresh Food People.
Thank you again for your support and understanding as we go over the Omicron hump.
Brad Banducci
CEO Woolworths Group
For reasons best known to himself Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook (Sydney NSW) Scott Morrison fancies himself as a bit of a chef.
After he infamously ran away from a national crisis in December 2019, holiday photoshoots have also been well and truly weaponised by the general public, cartoonists & satirists and that weapon pointed straight at his head.
Take this recent piece.....
Satirical blog The Shovel on Wednesday, 29 December 2021 when Australia’s daily COVID-19 new case count stood at 32,946 infected people including 8 dead in the last 24 hours:
With the nation facing its highest COVID case numbers ever, and testing facilities stretched to their limit, PM Scott Morrison made an urgent address to the nation this afternoon to announce a new Sri Lankan curry which he says is now one of his favourites.
“It’s curry night!” Mr Morrison said, as daily national case numbers climbed towards 20,000 and lines for PCR testing continued to stretch to more than five hours......
However, our emotionally tone deaf prime minister either ignores or fails to see the warning signs that makes it risky to promote his Kirribilli House New Year's Eve private harbourside parties to watch the fireworks. Particularly this time around as the nation enters its third year of a global pandemic.
This was #ScottyTheChef on social media on 31 December 2021 when the national daily COVID-19 new case count was 35,326 infected people, including 13 dead in the last 24 hours:
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| SNAPSHOT: @adamajacoby Surely someone in the Office of Prime Minister and Cabinet had registered the increasingly naked distress being expressed on social media, as infection and hospitalisation numbers grew on the Australian east coast, public health response//support measures began to be withdrawn and individuals, families and communities were being told in so many words that they were on their own now 'living with COVID'. Perhaps his media team might like to suggest to Morrison that he lie low the day before Australia Day 2022 as 25 January is the anniversary of the very first confirmed case of COVID-19. |
A defensive Prime Minister Scott Morrison returning home from UN COP26 in Glasgow U.K. Days after Australia learned of his disastrous performance on the international stage....
I ask French President Emmanuel Macron whether Scott Morrison lied to him: “I don’t think, I know.” pic.twitter.com/3tcg4xrl90
— Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) October 31, 2021
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison giving his version of the Macron-initiated phone call while carefully avoiding mention of the fact that for weeks the French President refused to take his calls.
Australian read out from the phone call with President Macron: “They had a candid discussion on the bilateral relationship.” @SBSNews #auspol 🇦🇺 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/z8gZOUDjeo
— Pablo Viñales (@pablovinales) October 28, 2021
This is what French President Emmanuel Macron states....
Élysée Palace, France, statement, 28 October 2021:
Statement on the phone call between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
On Thursday, 28 October, President Macron had a telephone call with the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Scott Morrison.
President Macron recalled that Australia’s unilateral decision to scale back the French-Australian strategic partnership by putting an end to the ocean-class submarine programme in favour of another as-yet unspecified project broke the relationship of trust between our two countries. The situation of the French businesses and their subcontractors, including Australian companies, affected by this decision will be given our utmost attention.
It is now up to the Australian Government to propose tangible actions that embody the political will of Australia’s highest authorities to redefine the basis of our bilateral relationship and continue joint action in the Indo-Pacific.
Looking ahead to the upcoming G20 in Rome and COP26 in Glasgow, the President of the French Republic encouraged the Australian Prime Minister to adopt ambitious measures commensurate with the climate challenge, in particular the ratcheting up of the nationally determined contribution, the commitment to cease production and consumption of coal at the national level and abroad, and greater Australian support to the International Solar Alliance.
The Guardian, 27 September 2021:
The disability royal commission says governments should not lift lockdowns until all people with disability have had the “opportunity to be fully vaccinated” – even if states and territories hit the 70% fully vaccinated threshold.
In a scathing draft report handed down on Monday morning, the royal commission found the federal department of health’s approach to vaccinating people with disabilities had been “seriously deficient”.
People with disability living in shared accommodation, or “group homes”, were included in phase 1a of the vaccine rollout but then quietly “deprioritised” in favour of aged care residents.
The commission is now concerned people with disabilities will remain unprotected as states such as New South Wales and Victoria look to ease restrictions when 70% of the adult population is fully vaccinated next month.
“In our view, it would be grossly unfair, indeed unconscionable, if any people with disability who have not been given the opportunity to be fully vaccinated by the time the 70% threshold is reached are denied the freedoms available to people who have been fully vaccinated,” the report said.
“The unfairness is magnified once it is accepted – as it must be – that increased freedoms for the fully vaccinated increase the risk of contracting Covid-19 for people who are not fully vaccinated.
“It is one thing for people who choose not to be vaccinated to be denied these freedoms; it is quite another for people who have been denied the opportunity to be fully vaccinated also to be denied those freedoms.”
The report said the federal government should “use its best endeavours” to ensure no state or territory “significantly eases restrictions” when the 70% threshold is met unless all people with disability “have and appreciate that they have the opportunity to be fully vaccinated”.
The commission singled out national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) participants, people living in residential disability accommodation and people with intellectual disability as key groups. It said all active disability support workers should also be fully vaccinated before lockdowns are lifted…..
Among all NDIS participants, not just those in group homes, 39.9% had been fully vaccinated at 15 September……
As at 30 June 2021 in Northern NSW, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) had 6,903 active participants (ranging from children to older adults) with diagnosed disabilities which included; Acquired Brain Injury, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delay, Global Developmental Delay, Hearing Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Multiple Sclerosis, as well as other Neurological, Physical, Sensory & Speech disabilities.
Perhaps Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP Scott Morrison and NSW Deputy Premier, Nationals MP & Minister for Regional New South Wales, John Barilaro, might like to ask those 6,903 Northern NSW residents how they feel about their relegation to second-class citizenship in the middle of a global pandemic?
“we’ve corned the turner”
[ Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, 19 August 2021]
NSW Health, COVID-19 (Coronavirus) statistics,16 July 2021:
NSW recorded 97 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Of these locally acquired cases, 63 are linked to a known case or cluster – 49 are household contacts and 14 are close contacts – and the source of infection for 34 cases remains under investigation.
Forty-six cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and 17 cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period. Twenty-nine cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of five cases remains under investigation.
One new overseas-acquired case was recorded in the same period. The total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic is now 6,527.
There have been 1,026 locally acquired cases reported since 16 June 2021, when the first case in the Bondi cluster was reported.
There are currently 75 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 18 people in intensive care, five of whom require ventilation.
There were 77,587 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 58,299.
NSW Health administered a record 22,568 COVID-19 vaccines in the 24 hours to 8pm last night, including 7,392 at the vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park.
The total number of vaccines administered in NSW is now 2,907,677 with 1,135,164 doses administered by NSW Health to 8pm last night and 1,772,513 administered by the GP network and other providers to 11.59pm on Wednesday 14 July…..
Of the 97 locally acquired cases reported to 8pm last night, 67 are from South Western Sydney Local Health District (LHD), 14 are from South Eastern Sydney LHD, nine are from Western Sydney LHD, five are from Sydney LHD, one is from Northern Sydney LHD and one is from Nepean Blue Mountains LHD…… [my yellow highlighting]
As of 8pm 15 July 2021 – Day 30 of the Delta variant outbreak - only est. 35.57% of the total NSW resident population have received one or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Because of the highly infectious nature of the Delta variant and the fact that the majority of COVID-19 cases sequenced in the week leading up to 3 July 2021 were identified as the Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1) and Delta/Kappa (B.1.617) variants, it is extremely important that every person within NSW state boundaries obey all public health orders.
UPDATE
NSW Health, media release, excerpt, 17 July 2021:
NSW recorded 111 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Of these locally acquired cases, 59 are linked to a known case or cluster – 47 are household contacts and 12 are close contacts – and the source of infection for 52 cases remains under investigation.
Sixty-nine cases were in isolation throughout their infectious period and ten cases were in isolation for part of their infectious period. Twenty-nine cases were infectious in the community, and the isolation status of three cases remains under investigation.
Six new overseas-acquired cases were recorded in the same period. The total number of cases in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic is now 6,644.
Sadly, a man in his late-80s from south-eastern Sydney died yesterday. NSW Health extends its sincere sympathies to his family.
There have been 1,137 locally acquired cases reported since 16 June 2021, when the first case in the Bondi cluster was reported.
There are currently 75 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 18 people in intensive care, six of whom require ventilation.
There were a record 81,970 COVID-19 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day's total of 77,587…… [my yellow highlighting]
Restrictions to further limit the spread of the COVID-19 Delta strain, effective from 11:59pm Saturday 17 July 2021, can be found here:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/restrictions-to-further-limit-spread-of-covid-19-delta-strain
