Why Scott Morrison's King's Birthday honour boils my blood
For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS.
These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend.
I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it.
Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?"
Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for.
Says it all, really.
During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government.
The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"?
On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution.
Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines.
Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited.
Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership.
Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment.
As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response.
While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker?
Phew - send out the debt notices!
Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching".
In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so.
You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership".
In reality, it's an entirely different story.
Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us.
And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people.
READ MORE:
Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people."
Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it.
This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside.
For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS.
These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend.
I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it.
Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?"
Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for.
Says it all, really.
During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government.
The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"?
On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution.
Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines.
Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited.
Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership.
Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment.
As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response.
While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker?
Phew - send out the debt notices!
Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching".
In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so.
You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership".
In reality, it's an entirely different story.
Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us.
And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people.
READ MORE:
Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people."
Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it.
This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside.
For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS.
These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend.
I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it.
Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?"
Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for.
Says it all, really.
During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government.
The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"?
On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution.
Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines.
Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited.
Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership.
Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment.
As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response.
While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker?
Phew - send out the debt notices!
Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching".
In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so.
You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership".
In reality, it's an entirely different story.
Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us.
And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people.
READ MORE:
Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people."
Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it.
This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside.
For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS.
These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend.
I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it.
Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?"
Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for.
Says it all, really.
During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government.
The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"?
On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution.
Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines.
Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited.
Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership.
Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment.
As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response.
While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker?
Phew - send out the debt notices!
Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching".
In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so.
You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership".
In reality, it's an entirely different story.
Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us.
And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people.
READ MORE:
Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people."
Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it.
This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside.
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The Age
3 hours ago
- The Age
John Shakespeare's illustrations captured the vibe. Here's a handful of the 20,000 he filed
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The Advertiser
10 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Average home prices hit $1m with more growth to come
Australia's property market continues to strengthen and gain momentum as the value of the average home soars past the $1 million mark for the first time. The national mean dwelling price reached $1,002,500 in the March quarter, a 0.7 per cent increase from the previous three months, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday. Figures from the ABS show the total value of the nation's residential dwellings rose by $130.7 billion to a staggering $11.4 trillion. "We're certainly not going to see the massive increases that we saw during COVID, but we do think house prices will continue to increase, particularly as interest rates are predicted to fall further," she told AAP. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, noted that regulation and red tape had made building and buying a home in Australia too hard. Mr Albanese said it was too complex and expensive to get a project off the ground, adding that Housing Minister Clare O'Neil had been tasked with reducing those barriers. "It is too hard and one of the areas is regulation," he told the National Press Club. He also backed a failed NSW project to redevelop Sydney's Rosehill Racecourse, describing the controversial proposal as "absolutely right". The proposal aimed to transform the 140-year-old track into a "mini-city" encompassing about 25,000 homes, but it was ultimately voted down by the racecourse owner's members. "That's the sort of thing that we're going to need to do. You can't deal with supply issues without having the courage to do things like that," Mr Albanese said. "(We) want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and all of that but if we can cut through on some of the red tape, then that will reduce costs." According to the ABS, the increase in residential dwellings was fuelled by housing markets in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. While NSW remains Australia's most expensive property market with a median price of $1.25 million, Queensland is not far behind at $944,700. Though prices are rising, further interest rate cuts could slow the pace of increases compared to the same period last year. Data reveals the average price in the ACT went backwards, falling to $941,300, as the Northern Territory maintains the lowest mean price at $517,700. Eliza Owen, head of research at property analyst group Cotality, told AAP it was not a surprise the nation's property market continued to be pushed to record values. "(It comes) off the back of long-term constraint on housing supply, compounded by more recent factors like interest rate reductions, which increase access to finance," she said. Ms Owen noted the interest rate reduction earlier this year helped reinvigorate demand across the housing market on a fairly broad basis. While the average dwelling price has reached seven figures for the first time, Ms Owen said factors such as rate reductions had given markets like Sydney a "sugar hit", rather than triggering a large upswing like the robust growth seen in 2021. Australia's property market continues to strengthen and gain momentum as the value of the average home soars past the $1 million mark for the first time. The national mean dwelling price reached $1,002,500 in the March quarter, a 0.7 per cent increase from the previous three months, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday. Figures from the ABS show the total value of the nation's residential dwellings rose by $130.7 billion to a staggering $11.4 trillion. "We're certainly not going to see the massive increases that we saw during COVID, but we do think house prices will continue to increase, particularly as interest rates are predicted to fall further," she told AAP. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, noted that regulation and red tape had made building and buying a home in Australia too hard. Mr Albanese said it was too complex and expensive to get a project off the ground, adding that Housing Minister Clare O'Neil had been tasked with reducing those barriers. "It is too hard and one of the areas is regulation," he told the National Press Club. He also backed a failed NSW project to redevelop Sydney's Rosehill Racecourse, describing the controversial proposal as "absolutely right". The proposal aimed to transform the 140-year-old track into a "mini-city" encompassing about 25,000 homes, but it was ultimately voted down by the racecourse owner's members. "That's the sort of thing that we're going to need to do. You can't deal with supply issues without having the courage to do things like that," Mr Albanese said. "(We) want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and all of that but if we can cut through on some of the red tape, then that will reduce costs." According to the ABS, the increase in residential dwellings was fuelled by housing markets in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. While NSW remains Australia's most expensive property market with a median price of $1.25 million, Queensland is not far behind at $944,700. Though prices are rising, further interest rate cuts could slow the pace of increases compared to the same period last year. Data reveals the average price in the ACT went backwards, falling to $941,300, as the Northern Territory maintains the lowest mean price at $517,700. Eliza Owen, head of research at property analyst group Cotality, told AAP it was not a surprise the nation's property market continued to be pushed to record values. "(It comes) off the back of long-term constraint on housing supply, compounded by more recent factors like interest rate reductions, which increase access to finance," she said. Ms Owen noted the interest rate reduction earlier this year helped reinvigorate demand across the housing market on a fairly broad basis. While the average dwelling price has reached seven figures for the first time, Ms Owen said factors such as rate reductions had given markets like Sydney a "sugar hit", rather than triggering a large upswing like the robust growth seen in 2021. Australia's property market continues to strengthen and gain momentum as the value of the average home soars past the $1 million mark for the first time. The national mean dwelling price reached $1,002,500 in the March quarter, a 0.7 per cent increase from the previous three months, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday. Figures from the ABS show the total value of the nation's residential dwellings rose by $130.7 billion to a staggering $11.4 trillion. "We're certainly not going to see the massive increases that we saw during COVID, but we do think house prices will continue to increase, particularly as interest rates are predicted to fall further," she told AAP. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, noted that regulation and red tape had made building and buying a home in Australia too hard. Mr Albanese said it was too complex and expensive to get a project off the ground, adding that Housing Minister Clare O'Neil had been tasked with reducing those barriers. "It is too hard and one of the areas is regulation," he told the National Press Club. He also backed a failed NSW project to redevelop Sydney's Rosehill Racecourse, describing the controversial proposal as "absolutely right". The proposal aimed to transform the 140-year-old track into a "mini-city" encompassing about 25,000 homes, but it was ultimately voted down by the racecourse owner's members. "That's the sort of thing that we're going to need to do. You can't deal with supply issues without having the courage to do things like that," Mr Albanese said. "(We) want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and all of that but if we can cut through on some of the red tape, then that will reduce costs." According to the ABS, the increase in residential dwellings was fuelled by housing markets in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. While NSW remains Australia's most expensive property market with a median price of $1.25 million, Queensland is not far behind at $944,700. Though prices are rising, further interest rate cuts could slow the pace of increases compared to the same period last year. Data reveals the average price in the ACT went backwards, falling to $941,300, as the Northern Territory maintains the lowest mean price at $517,700. Eliza Owen, head of research at property analyst group Cotality, told AAP it was not a surprise the nation's property market continued to be pushed to record values. "(It comes) off the back of long-term constraint on housing supply, compounded by more recent factors like interest rate reductions, which increase access to finance," she said. Ms Owen noted the interest rate reduction earlier this year helped reinvigorate demand across the housing market on a fairly broad basis. While the average dwelling price has reached seven figures for the first time, Ms Owen said factors such as rate reductions had given markets like Sydney a "sugar hit", rather than triggering a large upswing like the robust growth seen in 2021. Australia's property market continues to strengthen and gain momentum as the value of the average home soars past the $1 million mark for the first time. The national mean dwelling price reached $1,002,500 in the March quarter, a 0.7 per cent increase from the previous three months, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday. Figures from the ABS show the total value of the nation's residential dwellings rose by $130.7 billion to a staggering $11.4 trillion. "We're certainly not going to see the massive increases that we saw during COVID, but we do think house prices will continue to increase, particularly as interest rates are predicted to fall further," she told AAP. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, noted that regulation and red tape had made building and buying a home in Australia too hard. Mr Albanese said it was too complex and expensive to get a project off the ground, adding that Housing Minister Clare O'Neil had been tasked with reducing those barriers. "It is too hard and one of the areas is regulation," he told the National Press Club. He also backed a failed NSW project to redevelop Sydney's Rosehill Racecourse, describing the controversial proposal as "absolutely right". The proposal aimed to transform the 140-year-old track into a "mini-city" encompassing about 25,000 homes, but it was ultimately voted down by the racecourse owner's members. "That's the sort of thing that we're going to need to do. You can't deal with supply issues without having the courage to do things like that," Mr Albanese said. "(We) want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and all of that but if we can cut through on some of the red tape, then that will reduce costs." According to the ABS, the increase in residential dwellings was fuelled by housing markets in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. While NSW remains Australia's most expensive property market with a median price of $1.25 million, Queensland is not far behind at $944,700. Though prices are rising, further interest rate cuts could slow the pace of increases compared to the same period last year. Data reveals the average price in the ACT went backwards, falling to $941,300, as the Northern Territory maintains the lowest mean price at $517,700. Eliza Owen, head of research at property analyst group Cotality, told AAP it was not a surprise the nation's property market continued to be pushed to record values. "(It comes) off the back of long-term constraint on housing supply, compounded by more recent factors like interest rate reductions, which increase access to finance," she said. Ms Owen noted the interest rate reduction earlier this year helped reinvigorate demand across the housing market on a fairly broad basis. While the average dwelling price has reached seven figures for the first time, Ms Owen said factors such as rate reductions had given markets like Sydney a "sugar hit", rather than triggering a large upswing like the robust growth seen in 2021.
The Advertiser
18 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Why Scott Morrison's King's Birthday honour boils my blood
For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside. For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside. For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside. For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as prime minister, to notable contributions to global engagement to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia's contribution to AUKUS. These are the reasons why the Governor-General of Australia bestowed upon former PM, Scott Morrison, highest honour in the land - the Companion of the Order of Australia on the King's Birthday weekend. I don't know about you, but when I heard this, I had to go to the official website to confirm because frankly, I just couldn't believe it. Neither could my 16-year-old son. When I mentioned the award at dinner, his first response was "isn't he the idiot who crapped his pants outside McDonald's that time?" Not, "oh wasn't he the PM before Albo?" or even "was he the one you were writing so much about during COVID?" This is what the kids these days remember him for. Says it all, really. During the pandemic, he deceived the nation by secretly appointing himself to five - FIVE - ministries. The secrecy of these acts undermined democratic accountability and violated principles of responsible government. The Ministers of State Amendment Act 2023 was passed to prevent this from happening again. Does this smack of "eminent service to the people and Parliament"? On the topic of COVID, let's acknowledge his total failure to secure sufficient vaccine supplies early on which led to delays in distribution. Then, when he finally started to get his act together, his over-reliance on AstraZeneca despite the concerns about rare blood clot risks, led to hesitancy and confusion about the safety of vaccines. Unlike the other world leaders who personally lobbied Pfizer executives to secure Pfizer, Morrison chose not to and as such, our early access to the Pfizer doses was limited. Hardly a worthy contribution to global leadership. Then there was the public education campaign around the vaccine that failed to effectively communicate its benefits, and his "it's not a race" messaging, which added fuel to the confusion fire, resulting in misinformation and anti-vaccine sentiment. As a result of all this, we were literally left lagging behind other OECD nation's in our COVID response. While he did instigate JobKeeper, I found it incredible how JobKeeper overpayments to corporations went unchecked, giving them a choice to pay back the additional funds, but overpayments for JobSeeker? Phew - send out the debt notices! Talking of debt notices, the scandalous, harmful robodebt scheme was launched under his leadership when he was the social services minister, and he was the PM at the time of its very timely conclusion. He never took responsibility for it. Instead, he complained that he was a victim of "political lynching". In my opinion, this program represents the most shameful episode of Australia's political history. I was ashamed of my government then. I remain so. You know, maybe what won the award for him was the way he kindly and compassionately considered the very real needs of our most vulnerable Australians (note the sarcasm). His "you have to have a go to get a go" response to people struggling below the poverty line on Centrelink, demanding they pull themselves up by their bootstraps - despite them not having the money for said bootstraps - could conceivably be understood by the overprivileged elites as "good leadership". In reality, it's an entirely different story. Personally, it was when he divided the nation into "the taxed" and the "taxed nots" that had my blood truly boiling; like our worth as a person is counted only in what the government gets out of us. And even then, like we don't all pay tax and excise on petrol, registration and GST. Now there's an example of eminent service to the people. READ MORE: Perhaps the award should have read "for eminent service to the wealthy people." Don't even get me started on the Brittany Higgins case and his failure to even recognise the gravity of the situation until his wife talked to him about it. This is the man who Council for the Order of Australia appointed the highest honour in the land. In my opinion, it's the one case where tradition should have been set aside.
