Clare Armstrong, ruperter for Sydney’s Daily Bellylaugh, tweeted: “An Afghan mother and her child were the last people Australia evacuated from Kabul, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison held the final plane for crucial extra minutes so they could board.”1
Part of this story went as follows:
“An Afghan mother and her three-year-old child were the last people Australia evacuated from Kabul, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison held the final plane for crucial extra minutes so they could board. The Saturday Telegraph understands Mr Morrison asked the plane to stay on the ground at Hamid Karzai International Airport for a few more minutes to give officials time to scour the tarmac for her and the child. As they searched, the officials also found an Australian passport holder in the crowd who was able to get onto the flight as well. Once the mother and child were located and loaded onto the plane, Mr Morrison gave the clearance for wheels up, and the flight left…”2
This was outside the Daily Bellylaugh’s paywall (I don’t subscribe to this budgie cage-liner), so was clearly designed as propaganda, and was likely a ‘drop’ from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). I enquired twice of Clare Armstrong if this was indeed a ‘drop’ from the PMO3. There was no reply, so I can only presume that it was such a ‘drop’.
Simon Holmes à Court was rightly sarcastic in his response when he tweeted:
“he didn’t hold a hose. …and he sure as shit didn’t hold the plane. This is a manufactured story [Clare Armstrong], aimed to make #ScottyFromMarketing look like a hero.”4
Brendan Dwyer replied to Simon Holmes à Court:
“So Simon, I am an ex CO of an aviation Regiment. I will go on record as saying that this is total [bullshit]. A PM is not in the chain of command of an operation & NEVER has “operational control” (legal term) of any asset/aircraft. Can this be investigated please.”5
The real story of this last plane out of Kabul can be found in an article written by experienced journalist Tracey Holmes. This read in part: “The group was working out of two rooms in suburban Sydney, a quarantine hotel room in Brisbane, and a home office in London…. This group came together through the sports network, adding new meaning to the well-known Australian term ‘the awesome foursome’”. The people involved were: Nikki Dryden, “a human rights lawyer and former Olympian who bypassed the conversations about how to help and just started doing something”; Human Rights for All founder, Alison Battison who has expertise on immigration law; Human rights lawyer Kat Craig whose non-profit consultancy Athlead works with athletes to use their voice to make positive change; and former diplomat, Neil Fergus, the CEO of security advisory firm Intelligent Risks. They talked directly to the Australian Defence Force people at Kabul airport.6
This pathetic attempt to make Morrison appear to be competent and to actually have some empathy, is risible, and is symptomatic of the desperation of the Murdoch media in their support for the disastrous Morrison government.
Sources
- https://twitter.com/ByClare/status/1431164600276242432
- https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/australias-last-plane-out-of-kabul-held-so-afghan-mum-and-bub-could-be-rescued/news-story/918031da4bfcd0c159b7d4b09b2101bb
- https://twitter.com/BlotReport/status/1431766631139610625
- https://twitter.com/simonahac/status/1431506151452016643
- https://twitter.com/Dudebank/status/1431507497836109830
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-29/a-grassroots-rescue-of-afghan-athletes/100415764
Murdoch has a seemingly endless supply of lazy, puerile, and/or incompetent story tellers cum garbage recyclers. I can understand why Gaetjens has dropped the inquiry into what Morrison’s office knew about the Ms Higgins rape allegations now.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-s-department-boss-puts-brittany-higgins-inquiry-on-ice-20210830-p58n9y.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed
He and his fellow right arm leggies have more pressing needs (not to mention interests) – primarily putting lipstick on their prime hog, aka the “evil bully” . [Can’t wait to read Gladys’ book.]
Speaking of lies, disinformation and propaganda, did you read this article about the campaign of “half-truths, lies and spin” in the ongoing war crimes investigation?
https://www.smh.com.au/national/as-australia-s-war-crimes-investigations-drag-on-misinformation-is-catching-up-20210826-p58m31.html
Dutton is clearly manoeuvering to oust the Pentecostal Malingerer and thinks tugging his forelock to a different sort of bully on radio can only help. Here’s what Dutton could have said had he not been overawed by the outstanding company he was in and didn’t want to insult the undoubted intelligence of his audience: ‘I haven’t been briefed on those claims Ray and I’d be surprised if they’re accurate, but I’ll investigate and get back to you and your listeners with an exclusive asap. If that’s okay with you’. (Off mic: ‘Okay if I come back on tomorrow? We could do lunch at taxpayer expense’).
Jon,
So Stokes (West Australian), Costello (Nine, 2GB), Murdoch (Daily Bellylaugh) and the government all want this to go away. What is a few dead brown people when there is an election to win for Murdoch’s chosen tosser.
ADMIN, the editors and tech people at the ABC’s “Insiders” program just have to make full use of this sick tall tale of Air Space Controller extraordinaire Morrison’s Christian goodness as shown at Kabul Airport. What I mean is that their wags at Insiders should make one of those comic videos that feature well-known movies, but instead of the main actors being in full view, only their limbs and legs operate, whilst the head is brilliantly substituted for by some horrible politician’s noggin uttering cliches. Often the mouth is perfectly synced with movie dialogue that can be so very amusing. For example Scotty’s Big Big Plan for getting back to normal in Australia is a fine target for such video mischief. The lie about the woman and child allowed to get on board by the PM with a halo, is so open to mocking with parts of a movie about heroic rescue from dire danger! Go do it, Insiders, please!
Russell,
This story was so bizarre and so obviously a plant from someone, that it is almost beyond satire.