Morrison’s hope for clear air for his messages is being stymied by the crisis around deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie, as more damaging information emerges against her in the sports rorts affair.
Scott Morrison emphasised national unity in his Australia Day address last year, but this is not the message that everyone wants to hear.
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New research shows how prime ministers typically frame national identity on Australia day: it’s largely male, heterosexual, white and lacking class distinctions.
Bridget McKenzie’s political future could be determined by Scott Morrison’s inquiry into whether she breached ministerial standards.
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The damaging longer-term risk for Prime Minister Scott Morrison is that some people have re-thought their view of him over the sports grants saga and his missteps in handling the bushfires.
Bridget McKenzie was a member of a shooting club that received $36,000 in grant money.
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Morrison says he referred the auditor-general report to the head of his department last week to determine if McKenzie breached ministerial standards in her sports grant dispersals.
Anthony Albanese led Scott Morrison 43-39 as preferred prime minister in the first Newspoll of the new year.
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Morrison suffered a drop in his job performance rating, with 37% saying they were satisfied, down eight points from early December, and 59% saying they were dissatisfied, up 11 points.
When polling resumes after the summer, Scott Morrison may be surprised by the public’s assessment of his government’s handling of the bushfires.
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There is an obvious point upon which the LNP, Labor and Greens might agree to move policy forward: the national ‘cap and trade’ emissions trading system proposed by John Howard in 2007.
Scott Morrison’s much-parodied trip to Hawaii in the midst of the bushfire crisis is just one example of a leader not being where he should be.
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Disaster of any kind throws qualities of leadership – or the perceived lack thereof – under the spotlight. People respond most to leaders who show empathy and authenticity.
Morrison has been too timorous to take the tough decisions needed to prepare for the bushfire season, including confronting rancorous dissenters in his own ranks.
James Ross/AAP
A crisis of this scale requires a willingness to listen to the best sources of advice and generate bipartisan consensus. But Morrison has struggled to put the national interest above party politics.
Scott Morrison’s response to the bushfires has been roundly criticised as being too slow and out of touch.
James Ross/AAP
As the bushfire crisis worsens, the prime minister’s fallback positions on climate change and lack of urgency on a federal disaster plan are no longer tenable – the public is demanding more.
Scott Morrison doesn’t seem to grasp that while he likes to emphasise his relationship with the ordinary Australian, as prime minister he is not an ordinary Australian.
AAP/Paul Braven
I’d hoped to keep my absence nice and private, especially from those quiet Australians fighting fires. Regrettably, despite best efforts, my press office wasn’t able to keep a lid on the story.
The Yearbook is a collection of 50 standout articles from Australia’s top thinkers.
The Conversation
The situation with Naomi Wolf is another case of Angus Taylor being sloppy with facts and refusing to clean up his mess quickly.
Andrew Metcalfe, sacked by prime minister Tony Abbott, has done a full circle and is being appointed to head the new department of agriculture, water and the environment by Morrison.
Alan Porritt/AAP
Morrison said the shrinking of the number of departments was “to ensure the services that Australians rely on are delivered more efficiently and effectively”.
“The government was totally taken by surprise” when the One Nation senators and Jacqui Lambie voted against the ensuring integrity legislation, says Michelle Grattan.
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University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Leigh Sullivan and Michelle Grattan discuss this week in politics, and talk about what to expect in the year’s final parliamentary sitting week.
A leader with any appreciation of process should know that by directly contacting the commissioner he was opening himself to attack.
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With one parliamentary week remaining, Angus Taylor has been discredited, and Scott Morrison has been embroiled and embarrassed – or embarrassed himself. And the whole thing was avoidable.
Senior Lecturer in Political Science: Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute; Research Associate for Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland, James Cook University