Cathy Wilcox |
This blog is open to any who wish to comment on Australian society, the state of the environment or political shenanigans at Federal, State and Local Government level.
Today, Tuesday 26 July 2022 the Australian Parliament begins sitting for the first time since it was dissolved in April ahead of the May federal election.
It will come as no surprise that former Australian Prime Minister and now just plain backbench Liberal MP for Cook, Scott Morrison, will not be in attendance,
He has very carefully made plans to be elsewhere – pretending to international audiences that he is a person of national importance.
Then Australian Prime Minister Morrison pictured at G7 Summit & COP26 Summit IMAGES: Daily Mail UK, 26 Aug 2019 & 2 Nov 2021 |
News.com.au, 25 July 2022:
Where’s Scott Morrison?
The former Prime Minister has confirmed he won’t be rocking up when parliament resumes this week.
Instead, he will be enjoying his $211,250-a-year taxpayer funded salary while travelling in Japan, mingling with former prime ministers.
And can you believe it?
There’s a good chance he will be earning some extra cash on the speakers’ circuit while he’s overseas.
Depending on where he’s speaking or which event he is attending, the going rate for such events can be $50,000 or more plus some fancy air tickets.
Mr Morrison had barely packed away his passport and suitcase from his trip to the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul a fortnight ago before jetting off again.
Meanwhile, the lights are on but nobody’s home at his new parliamentary office in Canberra.
“There’s no answer in that office,’’ said the lovely lady on the parliamentary switchboard.
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Mr Morrison confirmed he will visit Tokyo and return to parliament in August…..
The Echidna Newsletter, 15 July 2022, excerpt:
Morrison? He told us he'd go back to being a quiet Australian in the Shire and for a few weeks he did exactly that. But he's re-emerged, with less hair but the same amount of self-belief. The Murdoch press loathed by Rudd was handed a speech Morrison was to give at the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul. In it, he makes a spirited defence of his government's COVID response, spinning the shopworn line that its decisions saved 40,000 lives - never mind the more than 8200 Covid deaths this year. He also has a good old moan about copping criticism because of apparent disagreements within national cabinet. The speech seems to be a hamfisted attempt to rewrite the history we all know. The vaccine strollout - "It's not a race"; the pressure on states to reopen their borders; the ill-conceived photo opps; the interference in preselections; the leaks; the lies - "I don't think, I know"; the foreign relations disaster in the Pacific ... the list could go on and on.
Morrison comes across not so much as angry ghost as a sulky one. He blamed voter confusion over federal-state relations for his electoral downfall. Not my fault is an easy evolution from not my job.
Former PMs can contribute meaningfully to the political discourse. Malcolm Fraser did so with his stance against apartheid and championing of multiculturalism. Keating's occasional forays into the public conversation are often thought-provoking and amusing, if a little angry. But from the revolving door of prime ministers from the last decade, only Julia Gillard manages good grace and the kind of self-deprecation Australians admire…..
With his Seoul speech, Morrison is following the well worn path to the speakers circuit. How long he'll last is debatable. Given the self-pitying tone of his first outing, it's not likely to be long.
IMAGE: Twitter |
Financial Review, 14 July 2022:
In late June, Scott Morrison hired out an entire cinema so about 50 of his former office staffers could enjoy a private viewing of Top Gun: Maverick, confirming the former prime minister’s predilection for fantasy.
The love affair with escapist fiction has evidently continued, going by ScoMo’s speech to the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul on Thursday, which defended his government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Much of the (now martyred) messiah from the Shire’s address lamented the supremacy the state premiers wielded over the federal government during the crisis. What’s the point of being the most powerful man in Australia when you’ve got to blame someone else for the 7 per cent swing against you in the seat of Cook?
“As the pandemic evolved it became more difficult to keep uniformity in the various restrictions employed by each state ... When we inevitably disagreed, this caused great frustration amongst the public,” he surmised.
Which public was this? Surely, we’d have to discount the sandgropers, who awarded Mark McGowan a personal approval rating of 88 per cent in early 2021, a figure that would make Vladimir Putin blush.
…...Annastacia Palaszczuk garnered support in the high-60s, and Gladys Berejiklian and Steven Marshall both enjoyed approval numbers in the 70s.
ScoMo’s historic revisionism continued, however, proselytising that: “[I]n a crisis this was no time to engage in a political debate about our federation, nor as the national leader to pick fights with provincial leaders.”
Shifting the blame
It’s evidently easy to forget the more than $1 million the feds spent intervening in three separate High Court cases challenging state border closures, including the $41,000 that went to supporting Clive Palmer’s WA border closure challenge, from which the government ultimately withdrew only after public disapproval, but which undoubtedly contributed to the Coalition’s drubbing in the state two months ago.
The former PM’s reckoning that “[f]rustration with the national cabinet was actually frustration with our constitution and the federation” is another gem of Morrison’s preoccupation with blame shifting, given national cabinet was entirely an entity of his government’s own creation. No one forced him to scrap COAG, and no one forced him to allow the states such a seat at the table.
A bit of a bulldozer? The bloke couldn’t even railroad a few premiers if they were strapped to the tracks......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDUbQoViK8
'Today one MP with a talent for inflammatory language told News Corp Australia the beaten prime minister Scott Morrison should have resigned months ago, but instead “strapped himself to the Liberal Party like a suicide bomber and blew the whole show up”.'
[Political journalist Sam Clench, news.com.au, 23 May 2022]
Hi! My name is Boy. I'm a male bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I have been pestering Clarencegirl to allow me a small space on North Coast Voices.
A false flag musing: I have noticed one particular voice on Facebook which is Pollyanna-positive on the subject of the Port of Yamba becoming a designated cruise ship destination. What this gentleman doesn’t disclose is that, as a principal of Middle Star Pty Ltd, he could be thought to have a potential pecuniary interest due to the fact that this corporation (which has had an office in Grafton since 2012) provides consultancy services and tourism business development services.
A religion & local government musing: On 11 October 2017 Clarence Valley Council has the Church of Jesus Christ Development Fund Inc in Sutherland Local Court No. 6 for a small claims hearing. It would appear that there may be a little issue in rendering unto Caesar. On 19 September 2017 an ordained minister of a religion (which was named by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to 40 instances of historical child sexual abuse on the NSW North Coast) read the Opening Prayer at Council’s ordinary monthly meeting. Earlier in the year an ordained minister (from a church network alleged to have supported an overseas orphanage closed because of child abuse claims in 2013) read the Opening Prayer and an ordained minister (belonging to yet another church network accused of ignoring child sexual abuse in the US and racism in South Africa) read the Opening Prayer at yet another ordinary monthly meeting. Nice one councillors - you are covering yourselves with glory!
An investigative musing: Newcastle Herald, 12 August 2017: The state’s corruption watchdog has been asked to investigate the finances of the Awabakal Aboriginal Local Land Council, less than 12 months after the troubled organisation was placed into administration by the state government. The Newcastle Herald understands accounting firm PKF Lawler made the decision to refer the land council to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after discovering a number of irregularities during an audit of its financial statements. The results of the audit were recently presented to a meeting of Awabakal members. Administrator Terry Lawler did not respond when contacted by the Herald and a PKF Lawler spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the matter. Given the intricate web of company relationships that existed with at least one former board member it is not outside the realms of possibility that, if ICAC accepts this referral, then United Land Councils Limited (registered New Zealand) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd(registered Australia) might be interviewed. North Coast Voices readers will remember that on 15 August 2015 representatives of these two companied gave evidence before NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND. This evidence included advocating for a Yamba mega port.
A Nationals musing: Word around the traps is that NSW Nats MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has been talking up the notion of cruise ships visiting the Clarence River estuary. Fair dinkum! That man can be guaranteed to run with any bad idea put to him. I'm sure one or more cruise ships moored in the main navigation channel on a regular basis for one, two or three days is something other regular river users will really welcome. *pause for appreciation of irony* The draft of the smallest of the smaller cruise vessels is 3 metres and it would only stay safely afloat in that channel. Even the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to get momentarily stuck in silt/sand from time to time in Yamba Bay and even a very small cruise ship wouldn't be able to safely enter and exit Iluka Bay. You can bet your bottom dollar operators of cruise lines would soon be calling for dredging at the approach to the river mouth - and you know how well that goes down with the local residents.
A local councils musing: Which Northern Rivers council is on a low-key NSW Office of Local Government watch list courtesy of feet dragging by a past general manager?
A serial pest musing: I'm sure the Clarence Valley was thrilled to find that a well-known fantasist is active once again in the wee small hours of the morning treading a well-worn path of accusations involving police, local business owners and others.
An investigative musing: Which NSW North Coast council is batting to have the longest running code of conduct complaint investigation on record?
A fun fact musing: An estimated 24,000 whales migrated along the NSW coastline in 2016 according to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and the migration period is getting longer.
A which bank? musing: Despite a net profit last year of $9,227 million the Commonwealth Bank still insists on paying below Centrelink deeming rates interest on money held in Pensioner Security Accounts. One local wag says he’s waiting for the first bill from the bank charging him for the privilege of keeping his pension dollars at that bank.
A Daily Examiner musing: Just when you thought this newspaper could sink no lower under News Corp management, it continues to give column space to Andrew Bolt.
A thought to ponder musing: In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?
An adoption musing: Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home. If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766 or your local council pound.