Australia’s ‘accidental PM’ made his name by imprisoning refugees Made his name by imprisoning refugees
Australia’s Scott Morrison, the man called the accidental prime minister, is an incongruous mix of committed Christian who made his name through a refugee policy that many church groups have condemned as inhumane.
Mr Morrison, 50, was the Treasurer until Friday. But the ruling Liberal Party responded to public discontent at the government by ejecting centrist prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and electing Mr Morrison.
While he defeated a far right-wing populist, he is a far more conservative figure than Mr Turnbull.
Some also find Mr Morrison’s politics confusing. He started his career as a moderate in the Liberal Party but became a conservative. But as rightist who respects moderates, Mr Morrison is well placed to heal the war within the party that brought him to power.
As treasurer, Mr Morrison told colleagues that he would not run for party leader against Mr Turnbull. So his predecessor’s decision to quit meant Mr Morrison could not be accused of disloyalty.
He rose to public prominence as the minister who stopped asylum seekers trying to reach Australian shores by boat when the conservative coalition was elected under prime minister Tony Abbott in 2013.
Australia uses its navy to turn boats back to Indonesia, or banishes refugees to immigration camps on the poor Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Australia’s human rights watchdog found in 2014 that Mr Morrison failed to act in the best interests of asylum-seeker children in detention.
He explained his deep belief in the righteousness of crushing the people-smuggling trade and preserving the safe-
ty of people who board rickety boats to take the long, treacherous voyage to Australia.
But his empathy came into question when he criticised a former government’s decision in 2010 to pay for asylum seekers to fly from Christmas Island to Sydney to attend funerals after 48 died in a boat tragedy.
The former tourism marketer, known to his colleagues as “ScoMo”, is also passionate about his Sydney Pentecostal church. He has a reputation as a powerbroker whose support has been crucial to previous Liberal Party leaders.
Before politics, he made a splash as managing director of Tourism Australia in 2006, when he approved a A$180 million (Dh484.3m) advertising campaign, with a bikini-clad model on a beach who asked: “So where the bloody hell are you?”
The campaign was temporarily banned in Britain because of complaints about the choice of language.
But Australia’s first Pentecostal PM is a staunch social conservative. He proved out of step with most Australians last year when he unsuccessfully campaigned against Australia legislating to allow gay marriage.
But Australia’s regular party-room knifings and snap elections mean no prime minister has served a full term in more than a decade.
That has curbed their willingness to enact bold and potentially painful policies to modernise Australia’s commodity-dependent economy.
Legislators say they are acting for the public on leaders they dislike and Mr Morrison has promised stability. Voters will get their say at an election expected by May.
But the latest bloodletting reinforces the view that in Canberra, politicians act only for themselves.