No more ‘phony’ fighting, says PM
SCOTT Morrison has declared that “phony fights” with Canberra don’t help anyone after engaging in a war of words with some state premiers about Covid rules.
The PM had been in Adelaide on Friday to promote the Liberal candidate for the seat of Boothby, Rachel Swift, after incumbent Nicolle Flint announced she would stand down at the next election.
In a sign the campaign was well and truly under way, Mr Morrison toured Micro-x, a medical imaging and technology business in Tonsley, south of Adelaide, spruiking manufacturing jobs at the facility.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr Morrison was questioned about why South Australian Premier Steven Marshall wasn’t with him.
He said he was catching up with the South Australian Liberal leader later in the day but their “schedules didn’t align” in the morning.
The PM then declared Mr Marshall was “the inspiration to create this culture of transformation in South Australia”.
“He has brought that confidence back and brought the can-do attitude that people who were previously working in industries that are no more have had the confidence to go and move into new industries,” Mr Morrison said.
“I could not speak highly enough about his inspiration to achieving that change here.”
Mr Morrison then called out phony fights and carrying on with Canberra.
“No more phony fights and carrying on with Canberra. All those phony fights they don’t help anybody. And they certainly weren’t helping South Australia, he’s turned all that around and look what’s hap
pening - jobs,” Mr Morrison said.
His comments come after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews blasted the Prime Minister and accused him of “pandering to extremists” and “double speak” following violent anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne two weeks ago.
Mr Morrison denounced the violence but said he sympathised with Australians “who have had a gutful of governments telling them what to do”.
The Queensland government has also in the past week slammed Mr Morrison for trying to curry favour with antivaxxers after he criticised their plan to ban unvaccinated people from venues once 80 per cent of eligible residents were fully vaccinated.
Mr Morrison also defended his strong stance against Beijing after it was revealed a Chinese naval ship spent three weeks off the coast of Australia in August and September.
“Don’t think for a second that we were not keeping an eye on them as they were seeking to keep an eye on us,” he said. “The fact that we have stood up for our right to be there is one of the reasons, among many, ensuring we are building up our own defence capability.