In early May 2020, in an effort to marshal the troops towards kickstarting the COVID-savaged economy, Scott Morrison uttered the words that may continue to haunt him for months to come.
"We can't keep Australia under the doona"
Not that economy wasn't well on its way into a downward spiral before COVID-19, but it became a convenient excuse to cover up a multitude of faux pas as Australia slid towards a likely recession in the early part of 2020.
With record unemployment, the government's stimulus packages to business and welfare in the form of the temporary increase of Jobseeker, the temporary subsidy for business in the form of Jobkeeper, the $750 payments to pensioners, DSP and other eligible participants - the government are running a pretty high tab at the bar while the surplus slowly sinks like an unattainable grail in the west - and they are panicking.
This government don't do social stimulus packages very well. In fact, they'd rather not do them at all. The Rudd government's initial proposal for the $42 billion stimulus package was met with opposition from the LNP who initially voted against it. Malcolm Turnbull, opposition leader at the time argued that "comprehensive tax cuts would be a better way to go" - As we have seen from the Morrison government's first round of tax cuts passed in 2019, they have not been a conclusive way to move forward to stimulate the economy. Ironically, the Morrison government's stimulus package has dwarfed the Rudd government's stimulus of 2008-2009.
Morrison is looking forward to the September 2020 "snap back" to previous underwhelming social standards in an effort to decrease government spending and, in his theory, our situation will slowly improve when people start returning to normal, obtaining jobs and injecting dollars into the economy.
Morrison is so fixated on our economic welfare that he continued to push people in May 2020 into taking up the CovdSafe App, saying "This (CovidSafe App) is a critical issue for National Cabinet when it comes to making decisions.. about how restrictions can be eased" and that the CovidSafe App "was the ticket to opening up our economy and getting people into jobs"
We all know now that the CovidSafe App is akin to a dud and has failed dismally in Victoria amidst their current COVID-19 second wave. Morrison was merely yanking our chain despite already knowing that there were inherent problems with the app from the beginning. He might have hoped some subtle blackmail was "the ticket" into getting everybody to comply. While it didn't have the uptake that he had hoped for, it did provide evidence that there are quite a few people out there who don't trust the Morrison government's word as gospel.
Another contentious issue for Morrison is his insistence on keeping children at school amidst COVID-19 outbreaks. He has repeated health advice, primarily from his Chief Medical Officer, that "the risk of COVID-19 spreading among school-age children is very low" and "it is important that children have a safe place to learn". This was in direct conflict with some of the state and territory governments. The Morrison government have gone as far as to put pressure on private and independent schools to open their doors by threatening to withhold funding if they do not comply. We know now that outbreaks have occurred in schools and some are calling for schools to close during the pandemic and create avenues for online learning for those impacted.
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis there has been division and contradiction between the federal and state governments. There have been contradicting positions exposed by the mere actions of Scott Morrison. While he calls for Australians to "get out from under the doona", he shuts down parliament, for no other reason than it may be a COVID risk if parliament were to sit. In contrast, we see Morrison on television sitting among a crowd of football supporters with no social distancing precautions in place and not behaving in a manner that would indicate that he was too concerned about a COVID risk. It is okay for Morrison to go to a football game, hold press conferences, be around his immediate LNP members but it is not okay for parliament to sit.
While Morrison does government his way, open and meaningful debate in parliament is being stifled and scrutiny from the opposition has been muted. "This would have been the first opportunity to debate Josh Frydenberg's economic update - which will include the government's response to a Treasury review of the Jobkeeper wage subsidy and the enhanced Jobseeker dole payment". Many people feel that this is unacceptable and the government should be seeking out other means of discussing issues up for debate in parliament. With modern technology and resources at the government's fingertips, a conferencing solution would make much more sense to even the most casual observer.
I believe it is a deliberate attempt by Morrison to subvert democratic government and avoid any likely scrutiny of Morrison's main economic recovery bugbears - Jobseeker and Jobkeeper.
It's all very well to tell Australia to get out from under the doona but it doesn't sit well with many of us when Morrison is so intent on diving under his own doona at every opportunity to avoid the transparency of governance.
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