Remember when #ScottyWentOnAWarFooting? (No not China, that's a different war.) This was because of his govt's inability to organise the #vaccinerollout.
It was a #ScottyFromMarketing strategy to share blame with states & look like he was DOING SOMETHING. 1/
2/ #ScottyFromDamageControl called for National Cabinet to meet three times a week. Oh, & call in someone from the Navy who's good with logistics. They'd do all the heavy lifting & sort out the #vaccinerollout. Here's a photo illustrating how this works.
3/ Then at the top of the steep hill, he could be triumphant, "I did it! All by myself!"
Except something else has happened...Or gone wrong...
Scotty isn't at the top of the #vaccinerollout hill but he's taken of his marching boots & is no longer on a war footing. 🙄
4/ So Scotty's 'war footing' only lasted a week. 😳
Could it be that the #vaccinerollout isn't the big news now? Perhaps Scotty is too busy making Facebook videos to address Australians stuck in India to explain he really wasn't going to have them imprisoned?
5/ Maybe he's just too busy doing distractions - pre-Budget announcements, red carpet arrivals - to worry about the war footing. Or maybe he knows the states & territories will just get on with it.
6/6 Whatever the real answer, one thing is certain. Morrison is about spin, not substance. He's about getting away with doing as little as he has to, passing on responsibility & passing the buck. And distractions are just all part of this woeful show. #auspol
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Some interesting reader comments on Scott Morrison in the SMH.
"rather than showing true leadership, the PM is totally focused on gaining electoral advantage...his refusal to admit any mistakes and never apologise has become rather tiresome". 1/ smh.com.au/national/nsw/c…
2/ "Many have noted Morrison’s reactive style, particularly in areas of discomfort or when challenged and his unguarded, sometimes clumsy, comments...Stubbornness and an absolute inability to admit error and to attempt to deflect blame only add fuel to the fire".
3/ The fed govt "...has sidestepped its full constitutional responsibilities for quarantine; tried to dump as much of the work as it can on the states; poured cold water on any creative proposals; and been dragged kicking and screaming into any expansion of quarantine services...
Laura Tingle spot on as usual.
Media release from #ScottyTheAnnouncer on Friday:
"Government chartered repatriation flights to the Centre for National Resilience at Howard Springs for Australians returning from India will resume on May 15," 1/ abc.net.au/news/2021-05-0…
2/ What is the "Centre for National Resilience"?
Answer: a quarantine centre (Howard Springs)
Yep, the Minister for Announcements &🐂💩, #ScottyFromMarketing, had a "jazzy name" for it. Always the most important thing in a pandemic & you've stuffed up.
3/ @latingle writes, it shows the depressing priorities of this government. The starting point for communicating policies is not to tell taxpayers what they need to know is approached "through the prism of a political opportunity, or political badging". #auspol
I'm looking at the Senate COVID committee recording. DFAT does not appear to have a means to determine how many of the Australians stuck in India are children who travelled to India with relatives other than their parents.1/ #auspol
2/ Some children have been in India, while their parents are in Australia, for 18 months. Some of these children are very young (around 5). They are not allowed to travel on Qantas repatriation flights as unaccompanied minors, so these very young children cannot return home.
3/ It seems the Morrison govt have not made any specific requests to DFAT to try to develop solutions to enable these children to return home so their wellbeing & safety is provided for.
As well as the very ugly hallmarks of the Morrison govt, another one sticks out to me: complacency. 'She'll be right'. From the start of the COVID19 pandemic, there has been complacency, which thankfully, premiers & chief ministers haven't shared. 1/
2/ Complacency that COVID would be a faint memory in six months & life would be completely normal. Complacency, despite advice to the contrary, that expanding current fed quarantine facilities & building new ones, wouldn't be required.
3/ Complacency that once states & territories took on hotel quarantine (I imagine, in part because they didn't trust the fed govt to do what was necessary), they could sit back, relax, & accept accolades. #auspol
India Sports Club president Raj Natarajan, who formed the club in Sydney 19 years ago, said bringing cricket stars home while thousands of Australians were unable to return would not be well received by the Indian-Australian community. 1/ smh.com.au/sport/cricket/…
2/ Australians involved in the IPL- 11 coaches, including Ricky Pointing, support staff, commentators & umpires - chose to stay in India. Cricket Australia is considering facilitating a charter flight to bring them home.
3/ Yet more than 9000 Australian (non IPL cricket) citizens are believed to be trapped in India. Sean Kelly's piece in the SMH is relevant. smh.com.au/national/scott…
Now to some great insights from @murpharoo. I thought she hit the nail on the head with this piece.
Scott Morrison did a lot of making things worse this week, although he was trying to make things better. 1/ theguardian.com/australia-news…
2/ Katharine Murphy shares an insight about Morrison: he "speaks almost exclusively to one cohort of voters: men at risk of voting Labor". If you are a male swinging voter, you probably don't notice this but the rest of us might feel excluded.
3/ The PM's not talking to you - he never is. Morrison always thinks like a campaign director but of late has been "whacked, and hard", so he's now faced with trying to engage with women - meaningfully. Hence the "hapless fumbling" we've seen.