Bulldoze the bulldozer
Peter Mudd writes: A mere censure motion is in no way adequate for the deplorable undermining of democracy in which Scott Morrison engaged (“Morrison, liar to the last, can’t get his story straight about multiple ministries”). He is the most arrogant, dishonest and incompetent PM in Australia’s history. He is not a fit and proper person to hold public office and definitely should be made to resign immediately.
Jacqueline Calvert-Lane writes: After the fake ministries, his grab for power, taking holidays when his country smouldered, harm done to refugees, damaged relationships with China and France, the lack of action over climate change, lies over COVID, deaths because of robodebt, the question isn’t should Scott Morrison be sacked. The question should be why on earth is he allowed to remain?
Karen O’Dwyer writes: Although I believe Morrison should resign and be deprived of the continuing benefits of being a former prime minister, I believe the true issue is a lack of accountability in general for lies by politicians. Morrison just took it further than most. What we need is true oversight that holds the political class to account.
Edward George Marsh writes: Far better that Morrison should choose to resign, but that seems highly unlikely. For him, that would be an admission of guilt. Many will say it would be the honourable thing to do to prevent further damage to the Coalition and Peter Dutton. However, there’s no evidence from his career that this could be a driver of his behaviour — in fact, quite the opposite as Josh Frydenberg, Mathias Corman et al could attest.
The LNP is backing him for now, and there is no support for censure from that side of politics or any call to resign. He can stay as long as he likes. This should play well for Labor and the teals over the next couple of years and very poorly for the LNP. A gently suppurating sore on the backbench will be a constant reminder of how retrograde the past 10 years of LNP rule has been and may well be reinforced by deliberations of a federal ICAC before the next election.
George Morris writes: Morrison shouldn’t be forced to resign because his continued presence in Parliament will be a constant reminder of the nightmare he and his government were. As long as he is still mooching around, peering over his glasses with his supercilious grin locked in place, we will never have another Liberal government.
Robert Chapman writes: Morrison shouldn’t resign. He should be tarred and feathered and run out of town. May I heat the tar?
Murray Francis Cook writes: I am not comfortable with Parliament “sacking” a sitting member who is there because his constituents elected him. I believe Parliament should move to hold a byelection in Cook and Morrison should be free to contest such a byelection. It is up to his electorate to kick him out.
Erik Kulakauskas writes: Given his track record (tourism sackings, appalling dishonourable preselection acts and his monumental ministerial failures), he should never have been appointed in the first place. He should also be denied the very generous ex-PM benefits.
Gayle Davies writes: He refused to speak personally to a former High Court judge who offered him every opportunity to meet her to explain his actions. Incidentally, I checked the Government Gazette on the federal register of legislation. In 2019 and 2020, Morrison issued proclamations of the appointments of the Queensland and South Australian governors to act as governor-general during the absences overseas of David Hurley. So it appears Morrison was quite aware of his responsibilities in relation to gazettals — although no similar proclamation was issued for his own absence in Hawaii in 2019.
Mary-Louise Hurford writes: in view of the evidence, the unscrupulous behaviour, and of course his malignant narcissistic personality, Morrison should resign immediately and head to the nearest cult pulpit and do what he’s best at: living in a delusional state of mind.
Sean Cahill writes: I consider Morrison’s behaviour fraudulent. He was our prime minister and his actions deceived the people of his nation. His actions undermine the people’s trust in their government — not just in him or his party but in government as a whole.
Wayne McLean writes: I would prefer that Morrison stays in Parliament and dies the death of a thousand cuts. He must have a rhinoceros hide. Inscrutability will get him only so far though.
Bob Way writes: Contemptible and anti-democratic though ScoMo may be, and however harmful his SloMo retreat from public accountability, he should not be forced to resign. There is great value in the principle that the office of a duly elected member of Parliament is ultimately accountable only to his electorate, except in the case of proven criminality. He should do the right thing and resign of his own volition.
Beth Hall writes: In relation to Morrison usurping ministerial powers, I am unclear as to what powers and responsibilities the prime minister holds by nature of being the prime minister. Was he feeling deprived?
Dr Lindy Warrell writes: I don’t know how he can bring his face into Parliament. He is a man completely without shame.
Patricia Berry writes: Morrison doesn’t even seem to understand exactly what he has done. He has no comprehension or understanding of correct political procedure.
Richard Crofts writes: Of course he should be sacked. Why would you reward such devious and downright immoral behaviour? His “cloak of Christianity” should be exposed for what it is: a weak camouflage to hide his evil intentions.
The end game for this charlatan was always to hoodwink the Australian population. His desire was to turn the Liberal Party into a personal division of Hillsong under his “divine” guidance. He truly believes he was chosen by God to govern in the Hillsong-inspired “end days”. He surrounded himself with the like-minded to carry out his wishes and give him plausible deniability. His ambition was, in his twisted mind, to save Australia from itself. To do all this he needed multiple portfolios in case the other imbeciles in his cabinet caught on to what he was planning. He must be sacked and totally discredited. To do less fails the Australian population entirely.
John Gleeson writes: Let’s see: a pathological liar; defunding the ABC because it stoutly maintains its independence; promising an integrity commission and promptly forgetting all about it — a big middle finger to the electorate; treating the inquiry investigating his multiple ministries with contempt; wearing his religion as a badge of honour, while treating refugees as sub-humans — this in particular sticks in my throat.
These are just some samples, but we should also look at the insidious influence of right-wing media in promoting a clearly inept, incompetent, mendacious charlatan. Morrison well deserves to be censured and thrown out of Parliament as an example to anyone believing they can trash democracy for their own ends. And it is time right-wing media were called to account too. Congratulations to Dan Andrews and Victorian Labor for showing us all that the emperor has no clothes.
Terence Panton writes: Morrison should be forced to resign. He’s shown, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he did not have the necessary integrity to execute the office of Australia’s prime minister, thus betraying all Australians. Surely his is the worst record of character in living memory among our former prime ministers. On this basis, his continued attendance in Parliament is not only an affront to his electorate, but to all Australians. The next question is: should he forfeit all privileges usually afforded to a retiring/former prime minister?
Vanessa Tennent writes: The term “extreme overreach” (“My loyalty was betrayed: Frydenberg”) describing the takeover of multiple federal ministries by one person is a deliberate understatement for what was a major breach of our Westminster system of government, and a failure of our democracy. It was a hair’s breadth from enabling the creation of a dictatorship. History teachers will love to cite this example of how close Australia came to rule by decree by one person.
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