Who is the real Scott Morrison?
ON the last Sunday of the campaign, Scott Morrison officially launched the Liberal campaign.
He left it to the last minute to tell Australians he is seeking a “second term” because he is “only getting warmed up”.
This is quite a statement from a man who has been in government for nine years already, but it seems the Prime Minister known for “that’s not my job” is desperate to hang on to the keys to The Lodge.
And so Scott took to the stage and told the party faithful that during the dark days of the pandemic, he had one focus only; “save the country”.
He then went on to tell us that he had succeeded.
He admitted some mistakes were made along the way, but this was to be expected. He created a political identikit of a bit of bulldozer, succeeding in a crisis.
The bulldozer analogy is his own description of himself, but apparently Jenny recognises this quirk in all “the Morrison men”.
His father and his brother are just the same.
They fix things.
Get things done.
You see, Scott’s brother is a paramedic and when he arrives at the scene of an accident, he just goes in there and starts saving lives. This is what Scott does, too, in his view. But now, Scott says he has to change.
Being a bulldozer was appropriate for the past nine years, but now Scott has finished protecting Australians and he knows we need a new type of leader. A leader who has more empathy. Somebody who listens more and demolishes less.
Scott wants the opportunity to change into this person.
But maybe that person is already in our midst?
Got to say, it is ironic to hear Scott extol the virtues of personal change.
He has spent the past six weeks telling the nation we should vote for people we know. Not somebody we haven’t met.
The Deputy Prime Minister famously compared Scott to a dentist, saying you don’t have to like your dentist, you just want him to be competent when he’s got a drill in your mouth.
This has been the foundation of the Coalition campaign.
You don’t have to like Scott, but you know who he is. The daggy dad who bulldozes his way in to save Australia. He’s the messianic mechanic.
In March this year, Scott was ruminating with Paul Murray and making a few personal remarks about his opponent.
He noticed Albo had gotten fitter and was wearing new glasses. He portrayed this change as weakness and said: “I’m still wearing the same glasses. Sadly, the same suits. I weigh about the same size, and I don’t mind a bit of Italian cuisine … I’m not pretending to be anyone else.”
But apparently Scott was.
But back to the business of the campaign. The centrepiece of launch was a new policy to fix the housing crisis.
For the past decade, real estate has been running wild. Even throughout this pandemic, when millions of workers were sustained by a universal wage, housing prices have continued to skyrocket.
This is great if you own a few properties but for people who are struggling, it’s a disaster.
The new Coalition policy to help people get into a new home is reliant on them raiding their superannuation.
No modelling has been produced to support this concept, but the Superannuation Minister has admitted it will actually heat the market even more.
It’s hard to see the logic behind this sound economic management, and, honestly, if this is such a great idea, why hasn’t the Coalition been spruiking it for the past six weeks?
Two million people have already voted.
Why wait so long to introduce this brainwave of social design?
Policy development has not been a strong point for this Prime Minister, and this feels like an idea that has been kicking around in Tim Wilson’s bottom drawer, just waiting for a crisis like this.
Scott has bet his career on an ill-fitting strategy and the fact that he is promising to become somebody he is not.
Is it desperate? Is it genius? Australians know the real Scott Morrison.
It’s too late.
It is time for change.
GOT TO SAY, IT IS IRONIC TO HEAR SCOTT EXTOL THE VIRTUES OF PERSONAL CHANGE. HE HAS SPENT THE PAST SIX WEEKS TELLING THE NATION WE SHOULD VOTE FOR PEOPLE WE KNOW. NOT SOMEBODY WE HAVEN’T MET.