Good riddance Scott 'Five-Ministries' Morrison

As Scott "Five-Ministries" Morrison finally exits parliament, to what achievement can he point as his claim to fame?

Perhaps there’s often an element of nostalgia involved, but when we look back over the legacies of most former prime ministers, there is at least one achievement that can be found for which they can be commended.

Even John Howard, widely thought to be the worst PM ever – until Abbott and Morrison – can at least claim the gun reform legislation following the Port Arthur massacre.

During ScoMo’s reign, however, there does not appear to be even one positive move, not one proactive decision that has benefitted the nation in any way.

Dictator Morrison and the ‘you made me do it’ defence

So, Scotty the Dictator secretly took over all the portfolios of the key ministers around him.

DRESS-UPS, LIES BUT NEVER HOSES

The former PM with a penchant for dress-ups, selfies, singalongs and damaging the reputation of ukelele players everywhere is famous for not holding a hose or accepting responsibility for anything at all. Not even secretly appointing himself into five ministries.

The only things for which Morrison will be remembered are wildly egregious. Robodebt. Hawaiian holidays during natural disasters. Cosying up to Donald Trump. Money for donors. Money for mates. Money for fellow happy-clappers. Money for fossil fuel corporations. Money for everyone who already has it. The dismantling and erosion of anything remotely beneficial to the populace: Medicare, Fair Work Commission, women’s rights, Indigenous affairs, education, climate change and energy policy, the ABC.

Oh, and there was that lump of coal.

Scott Morrison’s legacy is one of chaos, vandalism and abuse of public trust but the real damage goes even further. Unfortunately, the destruction bill for his collective misdeeds is incalculable and involves far more than money.

RELIGIOUS RANTINGS

Morrison was fueled by a slavish religious fanaticism that would be considered delusional by most thinking individuals. Indeed, if any of us tried to tell a court of law or a health professional that we believed we had intimate conversations with the heavens, we would likely end up locked away in a rubber room.

Messiah Morrison direct messages God via the social media devil

The PM attended a Pentecostal national convention, at which he shared with those gathered his belief that he and wife Jenny have been “called to do God’s work”.

Morrison, however, shared publicly his belief that "god" spoke to him and took time out to personally arrange his "miraculous" appointment as prime minister. It would be funny were it not for the fact that such crazed imaginings were not only held by the former PM but announced publicly. And, since these fantasies were nonchalantly publicised by his mainstream media entourage, they were also presented to the general public as normal behaviour — a little eccentric, perhaps, but nothing about which voters should be concerned.

His prime ministership was characterised by the trashing of public institutions, an admitted and well-established lack of empathy on his part and on the part of many within his Cabinet, and a general arrogant disregard for the wellbeing of the nation. And the many, many lies.

The Member for Cook’s slavish Pentecostal rantings revealed far more than delusion, they exposed an ethos where wealth does not only equal power, it equates to a level of reverence generally reserved for so-called saints and spiritual leaders. This obsession with wealth led to a disinterest in the welfare of others, as well as a cruel disregard for the "unwashed" poor. In this land of the wealthy, nothing else was safe. Certainly not the poor. Not asylum seekers. Not the economy. Not our jobs. Not our women. And not our children.

THE PEASANTS

Robodebt was an unlawful government scheme, under which the poorest Australians were hounded for debts they did not owe — for many years. It broke people and forced thousands into depression, despair and suicide.

Unbelievably, Morrison, the architect of the scheme, who misled parliament, lied repeatedly about it and then denied all wrongdoing, was still able to access Legal Aid to cover his personal legal costs.

Throughout his political career, Morrison also resisted any increase in welfare or pensions and advocated for the introduction of the cashless welfare card.

Scott Morrison's robodebt to society

Labor has joined the Greens' call for a royal commission into "robodebt" — an unlawful Morrison Government debt recovery scheme.

THE REFUGEES

Morrison awarded himself a trophy for "stopping the boats" — one of the cruellest policies ever to darken our borders. In essence, "stopping the boats" meant that no matter how persecuted, people fleeing war zones could not seek refuge in this country. Should they survive the journey, they were unwelcome and would effectively leave one hellhole for another, usually to be imprisoned indefinitely in island gulags, where even their children would be refused medical care.

Even children born here, such as the Biloela kids, who would once have had automatic Australian citizenship, were instead locked up for years in a custom-made, isolated prison.

IN THE RED

Not only did ScoMo and his Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's "back in the black" promises never eventuate, but the economy nose-dived, hitting the most vulnerable hardest and forcing many into homelessness.

During the pandemic, JobKeeper created temporary relief for some but in the end, many businesses pocketed the cash before sacking workers anyway in their perpetual quest for ever-increasing profits — the only quest prized by the Morrison Government.

THE WOMEN

On the subject of women's rights, Scotty believed that since he had a wife, two daughters and even a mother, he was clearly a feminist. Meanwhile, he accepted the word of an accused rapist as evidence of his innocence without further inquiry, ignored the groundswell of frustration among the populace over sexual assault and harassment in Parliament House, and informed women protesting gender-based violence they should count themselves lucky they weren't shot.

Morrison tells women protesting violence they're lucky not to be shot

Yesterday, tens of thousands of Australians marched across the country in 40 rallies. They marched against violence and they marched against complacency.

THE KIDS

And then there's all the kids.

The favouring of non-government schools had long been a feature of Coalition governments but ScoMo took an already inequitable system and created a whopping, near-insurmoutable funding crevasse.

The findings of the first Gonski Inquiry were ignored by the Morrison Government.

A second Gonski Inquiry found gross inequalities, even greater than the last, but its recommendations were still mostly ignored as religious institutions and other "independent" schools were gifted even more money, while public schools continued to wither.

SCOTTY'S MONEY PROBLEMS

Interestingly, one of the reasons cited by Morrison for his exit from politics is that he just can't educate his own two kids or live in the "appropriate manner" on his current salary of $217,000 per annum for sitting on the back bench.

Of course, as PM, Scotty's salary was $550K each year for almost four years (while the Morrisons lived rent-free at Kirribili House and The Lodge), so things must be tough.

In addition to the $217K salary plus super, backbench-sitting Scotty gets a gold travel pass, a fully maintained office, a car and driver while on business ventures, unlimited postage, free books and other stationery, free mobile phone, home telephone and internet, all on us.

But it is just not enough for the man who has the "Man Upstairs" on speed dial.

In short, Scotty has made a mockery of our democracy. If nothing else, perhaps he has inspired a cashless welfare card and debt-recovery scheme, tailored especially for ex-PMs who cannot point to any achievements but still sponge off the public purse.

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