Category Archives: Scott Morrison

Peter Dutton elected unopposed as Liberal party leader with Sussan Ley as deputy

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The pair will lead a much-depleted party, with the Liberal-National Coalition likely to hold just 58 or 59 seats in the House of Representatives

Peter Dutton has vowed to lead a Liberal Party that will not be “Labor lite”, aiming to win back government by appealing to suburban voters’ aspirations and blaming Labor’s climate policies for power price rises.

After winning the Liberal leadership unopposed at a party room meeting on Monday, Dutton attempted to soften his image by conceding he “made a mistake” by boycotting the apology to the Stolen Generations.

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Australia news live update: Australian man dies in Ukraine; Coalition ‘dropped the ball’ on Pacific engagement, Albanese says as Samoa signs China agreement

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Prime minister says Labor ‘won’t drop the ball’ as Samoa signs agreement with China; the Greens’ Stephen Bates claims victory in seat of Brisbane. Follow all the day’s news

Nationals MP Darren Chester reportedly told Barnaby Joyce of his intention to challenge him for the leadership in the party’s group chat.

May we all strive to have such chaotic group chat energy.

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Murugappan family to return to Biloela on bridging visas

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Tamil family can return to Queensland town while their immigration status is resolved, Labor’s Jim Chalmers says

The Murugappan family is set to return home, to the rural Queensland town of Biloela.

The interim home affairs minister, Jim Chalmers, said on Friday afternoon that he had exercised his powers under the Migration Act to give them bridging visas, fulfilling a pre-election promise to let them go home.

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Scott Morrison’s staff urged border force to publicise Sri Lankan boat interception on election day

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ABF officials made it clear publication of the interception could only proceed on the authority of the home affairs minister, Guardian Australia understands

Scott Morrison’s staff conveyed a clear message to border force officials through Karen Andrews’ office on election day that they wanted the department to publicise the interception of a boat from Sri Lanka, Guardian Australia understands.

While an investigation into the politically charged incident is ongoing, people familiar with the events last Saturday have confirmed that on current information, staff working for Andrews made it clear to officials that Morrison wanted the boat interception publicised. They also conveyed that they wanted the opposition briefed about the incident, given the caretaker convention was in force.

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Labor one seat from claiming majority as Liberals launch review of election defeat – as it happened

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New foreign minister tells Fiji ‘I hope I will be here often’; Jane Hume and Brian Loughnane to review Liberal party’s election campaign; Labor retains Tasmanian seat of Lyons; nation records 71 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

The PM is asked what he thought of Tanya Plibersek saying Peter Dutton looks like Voldemort, and reiterates that he wants to “change the way politics operates”:

It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have been said. We all make mistakes from time to time.

What we need to do is to move on from them and it is how we respond to them. Tanya Plibersek responded appropriately. I want to change the way that politics operates.

Quite clearly, one of the issues that came up, we might have discussed it in previous weeks on this program, is we couldn’t tell from opposition where all the pots of money had been stored by this government.

They abused the process of the contingency reserve to create funds for use during the election campaign. We will go through those line by line because it is taxpayers’ money, not Liberal party or National party money that was being allocated in the billions, frankly, during this campaign.

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Nationals could dump Barnaby Joyce over net zero stance with Peter Dutton set to lead Liberals

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Sussan Ley or Jane Hume likely to be deputy Liberal leader as Coalition continues to grapple with election fallout

The National party will spill its leadership positions next Monday as the Liberals debate whether Peter Dutton’s deputy should be Jane Hume or Sussan Ley.

As the Coalition continues to grapple with the fallout from Saturday’s election rout amid conflicting views about how to reposition in response, Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia’s 31st prime minister before leaving for Tokyo and his first meeting with Joe Biden and key regional allies.

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PM has ‘frank and very positive’ call with Johnson – as it happend

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Anthony Albanese has spoken to the British prime minister on his flight to the Quad meeting in Tokyo after being sworn in, along with four senior ministers; Monique Ryan says ‘work begins anew’ after Josh Frydenberg concedes; Dave Sharma concedes Wentworth; nation records at least 11 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

And lastly, Ryan is asked what her view will be if Peter Dutton wins leadership of the Liberal party:

From my point of view, I’m a sort of centrist politician and I have been elected in that way by the people of Kooyong.

Taking the Liberal party further to the right I don’t think would resonate well in Kooyong. And I think members of other electorates around Australia would have that concern as well.

I think that the population of Australia expects better from its government.

This is a government that hasn’t held women safe in its own workplace. It’s a government that has seen an increase in homelessness from women over 50.

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Australia’s rightwing government weaponised climate change – now it has faced its reckoning

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PM Scott Morrison has been dumped by electorate fed up with inaction on emissions and eager for change

When Scott Morrison won Australia’s federal election in 2019, it seemed like the country would never emerge from the climate wars that had begun a decade earlier.

Morrison had taken the prime ministership late in 2018 after conservatives in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition deposed Malcolm Turnbull, in part, for his attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia’s energy sector.

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PM-elect Albanese wants to ‘change the way politics works’ – as it happened

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Anthony Albanese to be sworn in ahead of Quad meeting; Scott Morrison praises ‘great foundation’ of church as speculation over next Liberal leader begins; Labor hopeful of forming majority government; nation records 20 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

That Paul Karp wields his words real good:

The Liberals flirted with turning the ABC coverage on blast on the big screen, but when Antony Green observed that he couldn’t see the Liberals winning more than 70 seats, suddenly the feed was cut in favour of soft aimless jazz, pervasive elevator music the soundtrack to attenuated disappointment.

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Australian election 2022: Anthony Albanese ‘humbled’ to be next PM as voters abandon Coalition

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Labor leader pledges to implement Uluru statement and to end climate wars, while Scott Morrison says he will stand down as Liberal leader after defeat

Anthony Albanese will be Australia’s next prime minister, leaving the Coalition in disarray after it lost more than a dozen seats to Labor and independents in an election that has transformed the country’s political landscape.

Declaring victory shortly before midnight on Saturday, Albanese thanked voters for the “extraordinary honour” of becoming the nation’s 31st prime minister, and said he would work in government to bring Australians together.

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Anthony Albanese claims election victory over Scott Morrison in 2022 federal election – as it happened

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Anthony Albanese arrives for speech; Scott Morrison to step down as leader after conceding defeat; ‘Liberal family suffered a terrible day,’ Peter Dutton says; Labor claims Reid; Zoe Daniel claims victory in Goldstein; Allegra Spender wins Wentworth from Dave Sharma. This blog is now closed

I’m a fairly big footy fan, but not sure how much all these analogies mean to the rest of voters (and I believe kicking into the wind can actually be an advantage in rugby union sometimes?)

On Weekend Today, Scott Morrison managed to turn a question about whether he has BBQ sauce on his democracy sausage into a stump speech about jobkeeper and co-funding the hospital system during the pandemic. We can’t fault him - those are more important issues than what he was asked.

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Scott Morrison breaks own rule against commenting on ‘on-water matters’ to confirm asylum boat intercepted

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PM says Australians ‘need to vote Liberal and Nationals’ so he can stop future boats, despite Labor’s identical policy on boat turnbacks

Scott Morrison has breached his own rule against commenting on “on-water matters”, confirming an asylum seeker boat from Sri Lanka has been intercepted.

In a last-ditch pitch to voters on election day, Morrison told Australians they “need to vote Liberal and Nationals” for him to be there to stop future boats, despite Labor having an identical policy to intercept and turn back boats where safe to do so.

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Scott Morrison softened his defiant language on climate change action amid UK trade deal

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Documents indicate PM’s changes to foreign policy speech coincided with environment agreement in trade talks

Scott Morrison softened his defiant language on climate action in a foreign policy speech in June 2021, shortly after officials appeared to have finalised the environment-related parts of the Australia-UK free trade agreement, documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal.

The timing is outlined in government documents obtained by Guardian Australia, alongside draft talking points denying climate policy was causing any delays to the trade negotiations.

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Final polls roll in as Albanese and Morrison hit campaign home stretch – as it happened

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Roy Morgan poll puts Labor ahead; Greens hopeful of picking up Senate seats; eligibility for telephone voting formally changed; health authorities give monkeypox update ; Julia Gillard says Labor would be ‘a government for women’; at least 52 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed

The voting issue is gaining momentum.

Between Covid, problems for some people overseas, coronavirus impacting the available workforce and the ability to open up booths, particularly in rural and regional communities, and the impact of floods in northern NSW, voting has been a very fraught issue this time round, and the AEC has been working overtime trying to plug the gaps.

That is up to them. I have always respected the decisions of Australians, those quiet Australians as I refer to them, they are out there working hard every day and they are considering their choice very carefully.

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Cabinet committee blocked plan to double Australia’s support to Pacific, election-eve leak reveals

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‘Extraordinary’ revelation about national security decision shows the government is ‘falling apart’, Labor says

The Morrison government has been hit by an election-eve leak that cabinet’s national security committee blocked a proposal by the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, to double Australia’s support to the Pacific.

Labor said the “extraordinary” pre-election leak, first reported by the Australian newspaper, showed the government was “falling apart”, while Scott Morrison insisted the committee was “extremely tight”.

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Who will win? The seats Labor and the Coalition need for victory in Australia’s 2022 federal election

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The magic number for majority government is 76 lower house seats. Here are the possible scenarios in the Australian election

With the polls tightening in the final days of the election campaign, both major parties are preparing for a tight contest on Saturday.

Labor, after carrying the scars of the 2019 loss which it was widely expected to win, is being more cautious about predicting wins from the Liberal party this time round.

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Australian federal election 2022 live: Plibersek says Albanese has a ‘tough job’ as polls tighten

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AEC concedes some Covid-positive Australians ‘may not be able to vote’: prime minister responds after Labor announces policy costings; Covid and illness lead to drop in working hours; nation records at least 52 Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s developments live

Scott and Jenny Morrison are visiting Whitemore in the Labor-held electorate of Lyons in Tasmania this morning.

Brian Mitchell holds Lyons on a margin of 5.2%, although his buffer was inflated by the disendorsement of his Liberal opponent mid-campaign in 2019 for anti-Islamic social media posts. Morrison is still on the offence, seeking gains to offset expected losses elsewhere.

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‘Please tell me he hasn’t gone to hospital’: Morrison the bulldozer knocks over a child while playing soccer

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Prime minister accidentally crashes into under-8s player Luca Fauvette during a campaign visit to the Devonport City Soccer Club in Tasmania

Scott Morrison has lived up to his self-applied moniker of “bulldozer” by crashing into a young child while playing football on the campaign trail in Tasmania.

The prime minister had the mid-match collision with the under-8s player at the Devonport City Soccer Club on Wednesday afternoon.

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Government claims of 7% real wage rise since in office disputed – as it happened

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Katy Gallagher disputes prime minister’s claims on real wage growth; nation records at least 53 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

National party deputy leader, David Littleproud was feeling upbeat this morning while speaking to ABC Breakfast TV:

We have achieved a lot together, in fact we have done more than any other nation in the world if you look at an economic and health front. We should be proud but we need to shift gears and make sure we look after those cost of living inflation pressures and who is best to handle that and to drive the economy and to guide the economy. I think that’s where the Australian people are looking at it when the opposition won’t tell them how much of their money they’re going to spend, they’re taking them as mugs. We got to be open and honest and transparent.

We think an upward surprise of 1% q/q growth in [today’s] WPI could be enough to get the RBA over the line for 40 basis points, though if it comes in at our forecast of 0.8% q/q that prospect will recede.

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PM dismisses need for more measures to limit Covid deaths, suggests Australians dying with, not of, the virus

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Scott Morrison says Australia is now ‘living with Covid’ as nation records one of the highest transmission rates in the world

Scott Morrison brushed off the need for further measures to curtail Australia’s ongoing high rates of Covid-19 transmission and deaths, and suggested many Australians are dying with, not of, Covid.

Morrison told reporters on Wednesday medical advice does not currently support a fourth Covid vaccine for the general population and asserted, without evidence, that Labor under Anthony Albanese may return to lockdowns to combat Covid.

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