Anything to get your vote

By March 12, 2021Australian Politics, Society

In front of the cameras while on a visit to Windaroo during the 2019 federal election campaign, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “…We had one of the early questions on rape, and women being raped and the lack of reporting, and one of the things that often happens with that is they are not believed, and their stories are not believed, and it’s important their stories are believed, and they know that if they come forward their stories will be believed. As I said, my father was a police officer, and you can only, you know, pursue the crimes when they are reported, often, and so women in those circumstances, I think, should have a greater sense of confidence that if they tell their stories, that they’ll be believed.”1

Apart from being a noxious word salad, in which he uses 100 words where 20 would suffice, journalists actually believed he meant this.

Moving forward to 2021, Morrison has twice invoked the Sergeant Schultz defence of ignorance. When, in early 2021, Brittany Higgins stated she was raped in the Defence Minister’s suite by another staffer before the 2019 election, and despite Linda Reynolds being told of the rape at the time, Morrison maintained he only heard of the alleged rape in the middle of February 20212. Many people, me included, find it almost impossible to believe this to be the case. In government, one of the mantras is ‘no surprises’, and this means everything that happens, especially something so appalling, is sent up the food chain so that senior bureaucrats and, in this case, politicians will not be embarrassed by their ignorance in front of a microphone.

Now, with the allegations of rape against Christian Porter, and despite Morrison’s office receiving a copy of the 31 page ‘dossier’ from the deceased woman and her friends, Morrison maintained he hadn’t read it. Porter also said he hadn’t read it3. A couple of days ago, Morrison declared Porter to be ‘an innocent man’4. It is only when he wants your vote that Morrison says he believes women.

Sources

  1. https://twitter.com/JonesHowdareyou/status/1370218479060717568
  2. https://blotreport.com/2021/02/17/did-morrison-almost-tell-the-truth/
  3. https://blotreport.com/2021/03/03/morrison-porter-and-endemic-lying/
  4. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/10/scott-morrison-declares-christian-porter-innocent-and-says-he-will-remain-in-role

21 Comments

  • Russell says:

    The amount of brazen, bizarre falsities being peddled by politicians in Canberra in the wake of both the recent matters of alleged rape, astounds me. Or should I say, makes me realise with a deep, pessimistic sigh, just how low the LNP pack of gutless sheisters are prepared to sink; all the while taking the Australian public for total fools. Morrison, Porter, Dutton and more, have disgraced themselves throughout February and March every time the Higgins and Thornton crimes have been raised either in the media or in Parliament. That Scummo didn’t ever have details of the events around the Britanny Higgins claims beggars belief. Two years passed and only when she left her job in disgust, Then she spoke aloud about her suffering, did this feckless excuse for a PM pipe up with any comment. That being a patent lie, that he, the highest pollie in the land was in the dark while his own department ALL knew the Higgins story floating for 24 months through the offices of Capital Hill. And supposedly Dutton knew and Reynolds knew and Cash knew, but never once talked with Morrison about it? I mean, pull the other one, it plays Jingle Bells Scotty!!
    Then came more women’s harassment allegations (by MP ex-staff such as Ms Mani) out from the woodwork. The biggest one to hit headlines is the Thornton dossier against Christian (-such an oddly ironic name!) Porter, who immediately denies them in toto. He also says (read “lies”) that police had never brought that rape charge to his attention, and that nobody else ever raised it in all the years since 1988. Liar Porter: Hooke, a close friend of K Thornton did in fact bring it up in the nineties with Porter. He claims he never crossed paths again with the victim, but then the fact of a dinner meeting in 1994 between them emerged, so we must conclude one of two things – he either forgot (for me that’s bullshit) or had told another furphy to look more squeaky clean. This is one desperate, ruthless bloke, with a history of serial female liaisons outside his (previous)marriage, who knows his public image is going from shitty to shittier every day.

    Lies, obfuscations, poor excuses, feeble rationalisations like “we must observe the rule of law” or “the police have closed that matter”, have tumbled like a waterfall from the massively duplicitous gobs of these key people. They will do absolutely anything, even make up easily researched pure crap, to keep their powerful status and benefits. Narcissism on steroids, shameless self-justification, wanton contempt for their electorate population and for Australians as a whole

    These traducers of democracy, these gutter rats, the supposedly Godly churchgoing Morrison, the nasty Porter and the rorting dopey Dutton, to name only a trio of the LNP, don’t deserve the level of trust to remove a citizen’s garbage once a week; let alone arrogantly parade their sicko selves as exemplars of irreproachable ethics in the governing body of this nation. We must rid ourselves of their vile scourge, or suffer results similar to those of a community that has let itself fall under the domination of the Mafia. Time is running out for this country as a democracy, at least under control by the filthy ways of the LNP coalition.

    • admin says:

      Russell,
      Well put. I certainly agree that our time to save this nation from becoming a one-party state is limited. However, there is hope. It looks like the Liberal Party has been annihilated in WA. How that translates federally is anyone’s guess. However there are some hard core Liberal areas of the state which have for the first time voted Labor. While I am no great fan of the small target Labor Party, it is a case that just about anyone but the Liberals will do. One other nice result from the WA election is that the One Notion Party’s vote has plummeted. Unfortunately, today in The Australian, Janet Albrechtsen and Peter Van Onselen put their name to a hatchet piece attempting to discredit the deceased woman at the centre of the Porter allegations, by using her mental health to segue into ‘false memory’ territory; something I suggested would happen in a recent rant, despite this being a discredited ‘theory’. To say twitter was disgusted is an understatement. I don’t subscribe to any of Murdoch’s budgie cage liners, but I have been told that Van Onselen had his name removed from the byline. We still have a long way to go.

  • clive pegler says:

    apart from everything else….. i am gobsmacked as to how on earth, morrison, at the dispatch box, can ‘misread’ 5th of April as 12th of February and somehow expect us to believe he misread, rather than actually accurately read his prepared notes. It probably said, in those notes, DO NOT say 5th of April!

    • admin says:

      Clive,
      As they used to say ‘a freudian slip’. I’d bet a substantial amount of money that Morrison knew not long after it happened, and April 5, 2019 would likely be when he knew.

  • Jon says:

    Woops, seems old mate PM (Platitude Morrison) not only accidentally overlooked the bit which said “…entitled to be believed UNLESS IT INVOLVES ONE OF US” but has also since totally forgotten that he ever said anything like it. It yet again raises the question – why do so many politicians, especially self-professed “Christian” ones, have such poor memories?

    Let’s face it, you have to have come down in the last shower or be a rusted on conservative not to know that Morrison’s a hypocrite with an armoury of platitudes, lies, half-truths and totally meaningless waffle for every occasion. Little wonder the Banking RCer Justice Hayne wanted nothing to do with him and his mates. Plenty in politics have the same characteristics as old Platitude but few have polished the turd so completely. Despite his statement to the contrary during the devastating fires, it’s obvious that Morrison is indeed a hose-holder, and a very practised one at that.

    Given both Porter and Morrison have refused point-blank to inform themselves of, and address the details of the rape allegations, people are entitled to draw whatever conclusions they see fit about them. In Porter’s case, his reported behaviour and attitudes towards women is also instructive, although obviously not conclusive. His carefully-worded statement about being unaware of the rape claims is already crumbling after James Hooke’s revelations.

    It’s not directly related , but you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to know why Porter and Morrison are keen to cripple a federal anti-corruption agency with rules like: you can’t investigate corruption and cover-ups; you can’t investigate past criminal behaviour; you can only investigate what the (tainted) federal police and departmental heads put forward.

    • admin says:

      Jon,
      Yep. The last thing they want is to have their corruption investigated. If it did happen, I suspect that a fair proportion of them would end up in gaol.

  • Jon says:

    On a related issue – does the Liberal party have a “women problem” ? (the answer is as obvious as a lump of coal to an ideologically-blind man), I see where Marise Payne, the Minister For Women no less, has refused to accept a petition in person from organisers of the Womens March 4 [For] Justice) rally next week. Needless to say she won’t attend the rally or the handover to listen to what her constituents have to say. Enough said.

    • admin says:

      Jon,
      I’m not surprised she won’t. Scotty probably wouldn’t let her. Women are there to be ignored, except when they bring a plate.

  • Russell says:

    I would warn anyone who is over the moon about the huge Labor win in Western Australia to chill a bit. The full hand of cards is a long way from being dealt just yet! Yes, this victory in WA is welcome as a relief from bad news like Morrison’s still high popularity rating due to handling Covid more sensibly than anything else the bungling fool has ever done in his time in Canberra. However, not all landslides are a good and beneficial event. In WA we have a situation where the win is in effect TOO LARGE, because where now, are the normal checks on legislation and policy that are in place with a fair-sized opposition and cross bench? The Greens, for instance, lost support in this state election; that bodes ill for any expectation W A Labor in power will keep the mining interests on notice of misdeeds. It is also less likely that McGowan will push for renewables/ carbon emissions laws very far in the next term of the Labor show.
    Translated to a federal scenario, it would not be advantageous for Australia to witness a massive win at the next election by the lack lustre, underperforming Albanese crew. If a WA style victory were to occur (-an unlikely event admittedly) then a Labor party with policies barely inches apart from LNP policies in key areas, will have been handed national government while in wait for three and more years. Right now, can anyone see much vital activity re garnering more electorate wins from this Labor opposition the old hack Albanese? As has happened before,, it seems Labor’s big strategy is to watch the Liberals implode in slow motion, and simply wait for anti-LNP electorate swings to be tossed their way. They love to win by default.
    Let’s not be complacent based on McGowan’s particular situation, because the last thing I want to see, is another two or three term government that quickly runs out of steam and originality because the public gave them a free pass at this coming federal election. The issue now is; why does Labor remain so damned inert and timid, not coming clean on their inevitable “Liberal-lite” plans for election victory. Notwithstanding, yes, we must certainly oust the Scummonist gang of grubs as fast as possible. But I still want there to remain cross-bench argy-bargy in Canberra…… from at least the few progressive MPs on climate change control!

    • admin says:

      Russell,
      I think the Labor Party have been cowed by the Murdoch and 9 media so they try to remain a small target, which I can understand. However, there is the inability for your average punter to tell the difference between a party with few policies and a party keeping quiet about policies. There is also the current quiescence while the government is in deep poo. What needs to happen to regain real democracy is for the Murdoch media to disappear completely and for corporate money in politics to do the same.

  • Mark Dougall says:

    A thing that Morrison does that is truly grating is his incessant reference to members of his family. In 2019 he could comprehend the difficulties police face when dealing with sexual assault matters because his “father was a policeman”. A couple of years later he finally understood how such sexual assaults could be traumatic for the victim because Jen asked him to imagine it was one of his daughters. Last year he knew how upsetting it was to not be able to attend funerals because of covid restrictions because he had to recently attend his father’s funeral. He thinks that this demonstrates his humanity. He said just that to a reporter who questioned him on the Jen told him what to think matter. All it shows is his utter lack of empathy, and intellect. As you point out anything he ever says is with an eye to currying favour with those whose votes he needs. He does this by trying to pretend he is one of them , using any trick, lie or evasion that his limited ability, and slimy advisers, can come up with. All he is though is a below average nerdy weirdo with vaulting ambition and few morals. He is quite sickening.

    • admin says:

      Mark,
      I could not agree more. I really do believe that his actions are so much like those of Trump, because he is a malignant narcissist, just like Trump. One of the defining features of malignant narcissism is a complete lack of empathy. That is Morrison in spades. Everything he does is designed to benefit him and him alone. When I heard Grace Tame speak, for part of the speech I was in tears, and I don’t have daughters.

  • Jon says:

    I’m more disturbed than overjoyed at the WA result Russell, for three reasons.

    Firstly WE (the people who actually care) need strong oppositions irrespective who has the reins of power. As I’ve said many times governments and politicians need to be turned over AND turned OUT on a regular basis.

    Secondly it simply confirms that overall Australian voters are easily-led sheep. Did a fair job with Covid-19? Okay we’ll overlook your clear faults and confirm for you that you really can misuse taxpayers funds with impunity.

    Which leads the the third and most dispiriting observation – that incumbent governments will be returned irrespective of their performance and despite the stench of corruption and lack of integrity which pervades their administrations eg Berijiklian in NSW, Morrison nationally. This despite the obvious conclusion that any state, territory or federal opposition would have taken very similar decisions wrt Covid-19 management as the incumbent governments did.

  • Russell says:

    Admin, you seem to wish that Murdoch media would disappear entirely, as you put it. Patently that is not going to happen, and even if one could get rid of rubbish media like Sky News Channel and “The Australian”, the extremely well-embedded mad right wing of politics would soon have other forms of press and television supporting them. Australia is essentially run by elites of business using politicians as their puppets, by bribes and secret deals of the most corrupt kind. NO, the Labor Party cannot afford to be quiescent and live in fear of what the Murdoch press might say about their opposition proposals to Morrison’s anti-democracy legislation in so many areas. This is a make-or-break time in our history as a nation. We need a courageous party with a loud and-up-front leader to show that there’s a real alternative to the LN filth now misgoverning us.

    Do I expect to hear that leader arise from Labor? So far my expectation has been unmet, and if it’s because Labor are like little kittens hiding from Big Rupert the Rottweiler, well God help the little blighters. They won’t have an ice cube’s chance in hell of winning against cunning ruthless slime Morrison, just as they clumsily failed to predict the dirty tactics he used in 2019. To Labor I would say: get off your butts and start talking loud on media about how you might revive honesty and competent national leadership……despite any flack you “fear” from the right wing media. Or bow out of the race and dissolve the party!!

    • admin says:

      Russell,
      There have been rumours around for some time that when Rupert kicks the bucket or starts dribbling down his shirt, his other shareholders will likely sell his Australian media interests, because they have been loss-making for years. He holds onto them because he gets his jollies by exercising power. I have been saddened by the lack of political leadership of any kind for years in this country, and apart from Murdoch and corporate money, I think in part it also gets down to the structure of political parties. Each is a club and to join you must abide by the rules, no matter what you think. As a consequence they tend to talk in meaningless platitudes.

  • Russell says:

    AT THE OUTSET, I DARE YOU TO POST THE FOLLOWING. HOWEVER I SUSPECT YOU WON’T DO SO.

    If that which you just wrote in answer to my comments is true, then there is no point to running this blog…well, truly IS THERE A POINT? What you say is precisely a reason why this blog may as well shut itself down. If the whole governing system, the party-based democratic structure and Parliament as a set of institutions is hopelessly compromised, merely clubs of elitists and self-serving, grasping types of bastard, then Australia is pretty-well doomed….and this discussion that runs interminably under the name Blot Report is patently useless, beside the point in having! How could it be of any meaning, given the above from you?
    Actually, you know, I do realise the truth of what you have put to me about this benighted, sick, laughably low-brow, fourth rate sleazepit of a country. I think it IS stuffed, I think its political system IS totally perverted by lack of moral fibre. It is white-anted by the super-rich, and beyond all repair by the mangey dogs now running it. And I really believe 90 percent of the overpaid mob in all our smug parliaments are ethical trash – execrable examples of lying, platitudinous, unoriginal, vision-bereft human failure. Yes! Australia is a nation that chooses drivelling fools like Morrison and brazen criminals like Angus Taylor for leadership.

    Why is it all so bad one may ask?
    I will now reiterate a strong view of mine Admin! I believe the population of sorry little OZ are mostly semi-comatose, poorly educated, naive, unreflective, spineless and uncaring. They are selfish beyond measure, money hungry, materialistic cretins. There is NO future for such a pathetically brainless, corrupted, mess of a nation, especially for the next generation, more’s the pity. The kids of today will inherit hell on earth from the present dire ethically bankrupt, rotted out polity we exist inside.

    • admin says:

      Russell,
      I was so aghast at the poor quality of politics in this country, that I felt I had to do something, and not being one that has a media presence, this was the best I could manage. I agree with you that a proportion of the population wouldn’t know an economic policy if it bit them on the arse. I hope that if and when this current mob of criminals are chucked out, the Labor Party (the only realistic alternative currently) have the courage to change the system. If they do not then the nation is doomed. There are a few rays of hope. Australia still continues to become less religious; women have had enough; WA almost entirely rid itself of the party that had been taken over by religious nutters; my post on ‘Morrison, Porter and endemic lying’ has had almost 3,900 reads while that on ‘Did Morrison almost tell the truth’ has had over 1,000 reads. I will continue.

  • Russell says:

    Fair enough response Admin. One must pray hard to Goddess that Labor goes a lot greener on policy for climate change than the beige hue it is presently. Meanwhile, just remember you are lucky to write this report of yours openly in a “liberal democracy” (yo ho ho!) without being shot by the military police.
    Jeez, PM Trumpisson (- latest snide and nasty statement slighted the women demonstrators in Canberra) )ought to keep a compendium of his “half-wit and wisdom” as he goes along, then publish it when he’s been booted out of the top job. The whole world can then discover from reading his droll little sayings and cornball thoughts, etc, just what type of sad country we are. One which has an inept, bloated, self-adulating lousy imitation of Trump for its national leader. Not that he could ever find a decent publisher of his drivel….oh, but the Moloch of Fox ‘Spews’ would do it for a fat fee.

    • admin says:

      Russell,
      Yep. However, I think the tide is starting to turn. His lies over the Higgins alleged rape, and his stupidity over Porter and the March For Justice have made people, not just women, realise he is a misogynist as well as being a halfwit.

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