I've never understood the appeal of Scott Morrison, Australia's 30th (current) Prime Minister. He always seemed like the guy who would say anything to get ahead. He would waffle and continually change his position, later denying he had done so. He would shut down questions of accountability (e.g. not talking about 'on water matters') and point fingers at others, never taking responsibility for anything.
I picked up Sean Kelly's The Game: A Portrait of Scott Morrison (2021) in an effort to try to understand the man behind the smirk. What drives him? What does he actually believe in? How did he get to where he is?
Kelly's book is divided into three parts: The Man; A Country; A Time. The first section explores Morrison and the image he has crafted for himself as a man who makes curry once a week, follows the Cronulla Sharks, and loves his family. As Kelly writes, 'so few details, but such talkative details' (p46), with Morrison continually adding 'Go Sharks!' to every media encounter. But these details were crafted to convey an image of Morrison as Mister Middle Australia - a family man, rugby follower and a man who embraces multiculturalism and domesticity (even if only once a week).
The section on the country contextualises Morrison's leadership against the backdrop of increasing calls for recognition of First Nations people and his refusal to acknowledge the harm the celebration of Australia Day causes. As the member for Cook, Morrison represents the Sutherland Shire where the Cronulla riots took place in 2005 - altercations between Anglo-Australians and those with Middle Eastern backgrounds. The way in which Morrison speaks of this and similar conflicts is to 'ignore the more troubling narrative and then replace it with one that vindicates ordinary Australians' (p159).
'A Time' focuses on the period of Morrison's prime ministership and the events that have tested his leadership, including the devastating bushfires, the coronavirus and violence against women. In each instance Morrison had the opportunity to demonstrate empathy, vision, action - and he failed. During the fires, he famously didn't 'hold a hose'. With the pandemic he started well, declaring the pandemic, locking down our big island and injecting stimulus into the economy, but failed to follow through with the long term protections of vaccines claiming it wasn't a race. On women, Morrison has been utterly tone deaf (despite having a wife and daughters, thereby somehow relating to the matter) and negligent in his failure to address deeply entrenched cultural issues.
This week Morrison showed more of the same, with an increasingly reckless and irresponsible approach to governing. His shameless pandering to the minority - in which he has declared COVID an individual responsibility and equated mask wearing to slapping on sunscreen and a hat (lest sunburn be contagious!) - and his push back against any form of government intervention, shows that we are in for a bumpy election campaign. Further, his photoshoot at the site of the horrific accident in Tasmania in which several children were killed, was shameless opportunism.
Sean Kelly is a brilliant researcher and intelligent writer. He has painted a portrait of the enigmatic Morrison as someone who has manufactured a character for himself - 'Scomo' the average Aussie bloke - who views politics as a game of winners and losers. Morrison continually wins this game as he changes the rules to suit himself, but in doing so he erodes the democracy he is sworn to protect. Kelly dispels Morrison's claims that he was utterly blameless for the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull, showing this to have been a pattern throughout his career. More importantly however, Kelly turns the gaze back to ourselves - after all, we elected Morrison - and our role in creating him. It is an insightful biography of an elusive figure and a critique of the myth of Australia.
The Game did not make me view Morrison in a more favourable light, but it did help me understand how his prime ministership is possible. It also confirmed what I had suspected all along - Morrison is a pretender, playing a game, and unless we act to make change - we all lose. With an election looming, let's hope voters see past the pork barrelling, slogans and sledging and make a change for the better.