Elsewhere in today’s Crikey, we revel in the sheer mind-boggling Scott Morrison of it all. The revelations that he’d appointed himself to various ministries during the pandemic, in some cases with such secrecy that the ministers already in those portfolios didn’t find out until the rest of us did, fulfilled the brief of every hallmark of Morrison’s time as prime minister: the hatred of transparency, the running roughshod over his colleagues, saying things that could easily be demonstrated to be untrue, and of course one last shrugging assertion that something wasn’t his job — in this case saying “following day-to-day politics” no longer formed part of his job description as a professional politician.
We are not the only ones to gratefully accept this one last chance — we think — to celebrate the most easily dunked upon Australian prime minister this side of Billy McMahon.
Behold our favourite responses to the unfolding scandal, starting with Crikey‘s 2021 person of the year, Grace Tame, who gave a new context for her infamous side eye at Morrison during her January meeting with the then prime minister on her way out as Australian of the Year:
Satire site The Shovel lamented the missed opportunities of Morrison’s approach:
It further theorised about the other national disasters that might be the result of Morrison secretly putting himself in charge:
Unsurprisingly, The Shovel was far from the only satire account to make use of the news:
If nothing else, Josh Butler of Guardian Australia points out that it does the Coalition’s job creation stats absolutely no harm:
And while Morrison’s political opponents (and erstwhile allies, in some cases) have been quick to jump on the story as yet another rotten tomato to toss his way, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is happy to preemptively exonerate Morrison in one case:
We’ll leave the final word to Crikey‘s own Cam Wilson, who frankly thinks you guys just can’t get into Morrison’s elite-level “side hustle” mentality:
Do you have a funnier take on the Scott Morrison portfolio fiasco? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
