Is He The GOAT

Scott Morrison is the GOAT, in my humble opinion. Morrison’s ability to manipulate the media, to ignore the reality of the situation when crafting a message, is better than all other Prime Ministers during my lifetime have been able to do – he is the Greatest of All Time.

This speech, where he thanked the expats for their sacrifice, and that their sacrifice had led to over 30,000 lives being saved, is simply brilliant. It will not be bettered.

The expats, as we all know, were not really the intended target audience for that speech. No. It was all the people back here in Australia who’d voted for him last time but were starting to waver in their support for him during these extended lockdowns, and who’d started to question his decision to close the border – to prevent people from leaving their own country. With criticism mounting that Australia was becoming undemocratic, for example in this article, it was time for self-justification, and it came in the form of thanking others for their sacrifice.

With one speech containing one simple message he’s smashed the opposition and bolstered his wavering supporters – we called on you to make a sacrifice, and you did, and it was worth it, thankyou.

I am reminded of the apocryphal story of the workers in Soviet Russia who would receive a note along with their payslip; the note was from the Secretary General alerting them to their pay being halved, and thanking them for their sacrifice for the good of the Soviet.

Morrison provided no explanation of how barring people from LEAVING a country prevents a virus from ENTERING a country. This is immaterial to his message. It doesn’t matter that his logic is completely nuts. All that matters is – the thanks, to the people who sacrificed their well-being for our safety.

The categorisation of the anguish and frustration of expats as a sacrifice allows Morrison’s wavering supporters to equate it with their own frustration experienced during lockdowns, and encourages us when reflecting on the situation of the expats to think –well, we’ve all had to make sacrifices due to Covid.

No mention that Morrison has taken no action since the start of the pandemic to improve Australia’s quarantine system to move away from the expensive and flawed use of hotels and instead expand facilities like Howard Springs. No mention why he didn’t consider trialling home quarantine more than a year ago. Had he taken either or both of these actions the sacrifice of the expats would not have been necessary. No mention of his failure to secure enough vaccines – this speech was no mea-culpa but a brilliant piece of political theatre.

There has been no better Prime Minister at spinning the story to create a self-supporting narrative.

Keating could be the Placido Domingo when selling the policies that completely re-structured the Australian economy and in turn the nation. Howard did not back away from addressing the real issues, but his droning and metronomic consistency at staying ‘on message’ bored the life out of us. Neither of these titans of Australian politics showed themselves as impervious to the flaws in their own reasoning behind their positions as Morrison is able to do.

You may not like him, you may think he has done an appalling job at governing through this crisis, but I suggest you take a step back and admire his brilliance. We’ll never see his like again.

He’ll win the next election. With thanks to the sacrifice of others.