But in certain so-called meritocracies across business and politics, accountability means nothing when it comes to leadership. 

Indeed, an ability to lie, deny, dodge reality and blame someone else for your “regrets” can be a much greater path to the top.

And there are few greater examples of this than former prime minister Scott Morrison. 

The ABC’s final installment of Nemesis showed this over and over again, as Morrison was asked to answer some of the moments that ultimately came to define his leadership record. 

Unfortunately for Morrison, as was the fate of his predecessors Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott, the full series also depicted the role of ego, enemies and retributive justice in ‘meritocracies’ and how they can bring leaders down, even at the expense of the party.

Underpinning it all was the Coalition’s lack of women in power and failure to do anything about it. From former PM Tony Abbott failing to include more than one woman in his Cabinet, to Julie Bishop receiving just eleven votes out of the 85 member party room during her bid for party leadership, despite being the most qualified and experienced among them. And finally, Morrison’s “clumsy” and “regretful” approach to women.

Morrison’s finger-pointing started early during the episode dedicated to his government, with him making subtle suggestions about his staff being “clunky” and making mistakes about informing people of his whereabouts in the scandal that broke when he took a holiday to Hawaii during the bushfire crisis.

“As prime minister, you don’t blame your staff. Some of those issues were clunky in their handling. But people don’t get everything right. At the end of the day I’m responsible for all of that.” 

He continued to downplay his bungled handling on the bushfires, the vaccine rollout, his relationship with other premiers, Brittany Higgins, Christine Holgate, France and much more.

There were the comments he made during a press conference when Morrison said that he’d spoken to his wife about Brittany Higgins, and Jenny and had clarified things to him with the comment, “what would you want to happen if it were our girls?” 

He said his key “regret” was bringing Jenny into it. “I should never have disclosed what Jenny and I talk about,” he said. 

Asked about the infamous line suggesting women protesting outside parliament should be grateful not to be “met with bullets”, Morrison said his response was “clumsy” and that “Jenny would agree”. He laughed it off, comparing himself to being, “like most suburban dads”. 

There was the PM’s treatment of former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate, who was humiliated and effectively fired on the floor of parliament. Even Barnaby Joyce could see the issue here, “you don’t go into a public forum and berate another person,” he said. 

But Morrison, again, had little time to reflect on the moment or extensively reconsider his actions. Instead, he said he probably should have drunk some water before speaking.

There was Morrison’s declaration that the vaccine rollout was “not a race”, sparking fury from many Australians and especially health professionals.

Once again, Morrison had “regrets” over his words, but he was also quick to point the finger – noting that former health secretary Brendan Murphy “had been using this phrase quite regularly in our briefing.” 

There was, more generally, Morrison’s overall record on women, which many would argue played a huge factor in the Coalition being decimated at the last election. 

Morrison denied he had a problem with women and his “professional record of where I’ve worked and how I’ve worked for my entire life, I don’t think indicates that at all.” 

Many women in his government disagreed, including former MP Julia Banks, who said he “has a really weak, if no regard, particularly for working women with children.” 

The PM was “brutal” and “disrespectful”, former Queensland (Labor) Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, reflecting on a particularly “threatening” phone call in September 2020.

Finally, there was the revelation of Morrison’s many secret ministries that came out three months after the Coalition lost the 2022 election. Treasurer Frydenberg – whom Morrison said had shared many nights playing pool and watching Yes Minister with at the lodge during lockdowns – said he was extremely disappointed and thought it was an example of “extreme overreach.” Frydenberg said the matter impacted their relationship and “still does to this day”. 

But Morrison saw things differently. He said he apologised to the former Treasurer and they are “as good a friends as you could hope for”. 

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said that she’d hate for people to look at the nine years the Coalition spent in government and think it “was all about leadership, rivalry, revenge, factional warfare, Liberals versus National Party turf wars.” 

But it’s hard to think of anything else. How much was actually achieved? As for what was achieved, how much of it was done to appease individuals and make good on alliances? 

Would things have been different if those nine years if more women had been included in this Liberal party’s idea of a meritocracy?

Morrison claims he listened to women. But as former minister Karen Andrews said, it’s not clear which, if any women, he did listen to — other than his wife.

“If Scott Morrison had included more women, or any women, in his inner circle, I believe that wouldn’t affected every single decision that was made,” she said.  

Let that be a lesson for any “meritocracy” that still fails to include women.

Pictured above: Julie Bishop, former Foreign Affairs minister and Deputy Prime Minister, in 2014. She received just 11 votes during a 2018 leadership ballot triggered by current Opposition leader Peter Dutton, one of those votes being her own. Bishop announced her resignation from politics in 2019. She did not appear in any part of the Nemesis docuseries.

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Morrison’s 16-year political career, including four tumultuous years leading the country, was not without controversy. On several occasions, he said some things and made some decisions that would go down in history – and not in a good way.

Women’s Agenda has collated his not-so-finest moments and the “legacy” he has left behind, particularly for women in Australia.

LIVE PICTURES of people congregating at Parliament House to mourn the end of Scott Morrison’s time in politics pic.twitter.com/bjkZ1uhQbD

— The Shovel (@TheShovel) January 23, 2024

As we say goodbye to Scomo, here’s the legacy he’s left behind for women.

Women can have power, but not at the expense of men

Feminism means equality, ladies! And equality means women are not allowed to even think about touching positions of power held by men. Ever. 

In what was probably the worst time and location to express this old, twisted yet widely-held sentiment, the newly elected Prime Minister stood up and did just that at an International Women’s Day breakfast in 2019.

“We want to see women rise,” Morrison said, “but we don’t want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse.”

Read the room, mate.

Women should be lucky they can protest without being shot

On March 15 2021, thousands of women gathered outside of Parliament House in Canberra, demanding equality, justice and an end to gender-based violence for women in Australia.

Organisers of the event called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to make time to speak with them and hear their voices.

Scomo chose to ignore their request and instead reminded us just how “lucky” we are.

“Not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets,” he said during Question Time.

If there was no danger, no violence, no “bullets”, then what was Scomo’s excuse to not come out and look those women in the eyes? Must’ve been a very busy day in Canberra.

Women’s political opinions can’t be taken seriously

In February last year, Hollywood icon Pamela Anderson revealed an “insensitive” and “smutty” comment Scott Morrison made in response to her advocacy for Julian Assange.

In her memoir Love, Pamela, Anderson writes about her interaction with Morrison when she approached him as an advocate and vocal supporter of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. She had publicly urged him to appeal to British and American authorities to free Assange, appearing on 60 Minutes to make the case.

“While I was in Australia, I had hoped to meet with PM Scott Morrison, to make a plea in person to the Australian government to help Julian,” she wrote.

“After I wrote an open letter to Mr Morrison, he responded cheekily in the press by saying he’d love to meet me if he could bring a few of his buddies along. That didn’t go over well — women were unimpressed with his insensitive remarks, which, by then, had reached the international press.

“You trivialised and laughed about the suffering of an Australian and his family. You followed it with smutty, unnecessary comments about a woman voicing her political opinion.”

Morrison never apologised to Anderson.

He can only take allegations of rape seriously from his perspective as a father – not as a leader

In 2022, the government launched a review into parliamentary workplace culture, following Brittany Higgins’ allegations of rape inside Parliament House in 2019.

But Morrison didn’t launch this review because he thought it was the right thing to do as a leader. He did it because his wife, Jenny, reminded him to “think about this as a father”.

“Jenny and I spoke last night and she said to me, you have to think about this as a father. What would you want to happen if it were our girls?”

Astonishing.

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Climate activism does nothing but raise “needless anxiety”

Greta Thunburg was just 16 years old when she bravely spoke out against our world leaders and their lack of action on the climate crisis.

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones,” she said.

Morrison didn’t even attend the UN Summit on Climate Change to hear her powerful words in person. Yet he still had something to say about it.

“Yes, we’ve got to deal with the policy issues and we’ve got to take it seriously, but I don’t want our children having anxieties about these issues,” he said.

Pulling the wool over the next generation’s and his own eyes.

Maybe Jenny should ask Scomo – what if it were our girls facing the consequences of Australia’s lack of climate action?

Oh, that’s right, they are.

It’s totally fine to go on holiday when your country is in crisis

Shhhh! Don’t disturb the PM with a climate crisis! He’s on vacay!

This is probably his most infamous move. As a huge portion of his country was burning from devastating bushfires over the 2019-2020 Black Summer, Morrison was sipping cocktails in Hawaii.

“I don’t hold a hose mate, I don’t sit in a control room,” he flippantly said, doubling down on his decision.

Please, future world leaders, future Australian Prime Ministers – do not take notes.

No one else was capable of leadership by him during the COVID-19 pandemic

Months after he had lost the election in 2022, it was revealed that Scott Morrison had secretly appointed himself to five different ministerial portfolios during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a backbencher in Parliament House, he had very little reason to defend himself and justify his action. Bizarrely, yet absolutely on brand for Scomo, that’s exactly what he did.

“As Prime Minister, only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders and on no-one else, and as a result I took the decisions that I thought I needed to take,” Morrison said.

It took him weeks before he actually apologised for his actions, which almost the entire country condemned him for.

That’s all, folks!

Well, that’s a wrap for Scomo in politics. 

What’s next for him, you may ask? Upon his resignation, he will be taking up several global strategic advisory positions and roles on private boards. His main area of focus will be on the US and the Indo-Pacific region.

Morrison also said he plans to spend more time with his family and his Church community.

And in just a few months, his new book, Plans For Your Good, will be published. His book on “pastoral encouragement” will be released on May 21, exactly two years since he was booted out as Prime Minister of Australia.

Somehow, I don’t think this is the end of Scomo in the news cycle. Not just yet, anyway.

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The former Prime Minister of Australia revealed he will be taking up several global strategic advisory positions and roles on private boards. His main area of focus will be on the US and the Indo-Pacific region.

Speculation on his retirement has been growing in the last eight months, with Australian media outlets first to break the story of his imminent departure today.

Morrison released a statement shortly after, saying he is looking forward to taking on “new challenges”, as well as spending more time with his family and his Church community.

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“After having served in the parliament for more than sixteen years, including almost 4 years as Prime Minister during a very challenging time for our country, now is the time to move on and enable a new member to be elected who can bring fresh energy and a long term commitment to serving our local community in this role,” Morrison said.

“My family have sacrificed a great deal to support my service to our country and local community as a member of parliament, Minister and Prime Minister. I am grateful for their support, but the time has come for me to return to private life and support my family to pursue their goals and for us to spend more time together as a family.”

The legacy of Scomo

Scott Morrison has been the Liberal Member for Cook since 2007. He became a cabinet minister in 2013 as the immigration minister and held other portfolios in his time, including social services minister and the treasurer. 

Four of his 16 years in politics were served as the Prime Minister of Australia, after he took over as leader of the Liberal party when Malcolm Turnbull resigned.

“It has been my great privilege to represent the wonderful people of Cook for more than sixteen years in our federal parliament,” he said. “The decision to leave is always a difficult one when you have been doing something you love and feel passionate about.”

Morrison’s retirement will trigger a by-election in the Division of Cook, the electorate that covers south of Sydney, including Cronulla, Gymea and Kogarah.

“I hope to see, and invite, a strong field of candidates to bring their experience, passion and dedication to our community, to the job,” Morrison said in his statement.

“I look forward to supporting that successful candidate in their local campaign, along with our Party Leader Peter Dutton and his deputy Sussan Ley who are doing a great job holding the Albanese Labor Government to account, and providing a clear alternative to lead Australia forward.”

Since 1969, the Cook electorate has only ever had one Labor MP representing its constituents in parliament – Ray Thorburn, who held the seat from 1972-1975. For the 52 other years, the Liberal party has held the seat.

In his statement, Morrison said he was proud of his achievements in government, including his role in the global pandemic “saving lives and livelihoods”.

“There will be time later to speak of these achievements and thank everyone involved, including my parliamentary colleagues, when I leave the parliament,” he said.

“Today, my priority is to express my deep gratitude to my community and my family for supporting me to do this job for as long as I have. It has been an honour.”

Morrison’s book

Earlier this month, the former Prime Minister announced the release date of his new book, Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness.

Morrison is publishing his book with Thomas Nelson, a branch of Harper Collins Christian Publishing. The expected release date of the 288-page book is May 21, marking exactly two years since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defeated him in the 2022 Federal Election.

Morrison and his publisher have clarified the book will be less of a political memoir and more “pastoral encouragement”, reflecting on how God and his Christian faith has helped guide him throughout his 16-year political career and four-year leadership of Australia.

On the Thomas Nelson website, his publisher says the book will come at a time “where cancel culture, identity politics and deep secularisation is taking hold across so many western societies.”

Upon announcing the release date of his book, Morrison revealed who will be writing the foreword: former Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence.

Morrison and Pence are thought to have a strong relationship, developed during their time in office. According to reports from The Sydney Morning Herald, Morrison phoned Pence, not Trump, when the Trump administration failed to secure a second term in office at the 2020 US election.

Pence is also very open about his strong Christian faith. In 2022, Pence released his own faith-centred memoir, titled So Help Me God.

According to an article in Politico, Mike Pence often says: “I am a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”

The inclusion of Pence’s foreword is expected to assist the book in expanding its market interest globally, especially in the US.

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Scomo’s book, Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness, will be available on the market on May 21, marking exactly two years since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defeated him in the 2022 Federal Election.

The 288-page book will also have a special foreword written by the former Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence.

Morrison and Pence are thought to have a strong relationship, developed during their time in office. According to reports from The Sydney Morning Herald, Morrison phoned Pence, not Trump, when the Trump administration failed to secure a second term in office at the 2020 US election.

Pence is also very open about his strong Christian faith. In 2022, Pence released his own faith-centred memoir, titled So Help Me God.

According to an article in Politico, Mike Pence often says: “I am a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”

Who is Mike Pence?

After a relatively short career as a lawyer, Mike Pence began running for Congress in 1988 when he was 29 years old. It took him 12 years before he was finally elected in the House of Representatives in 2000.

For his whole life, and particularly since entering the US politics world, he has held strong conservative views driven by his Christianity, including anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-abortion stances.

In the 2016 US election campaign, Pence was chosen as Trump’s running Vice President for the Republican party. 

He served as the second-in-charge of the US and throughout his term in office, Pence unabashedly stood by and defended Trump no matter what.

The Trump administration lost power in the 2020 election when President Joe Biden was declared as the winner. In the final days of the Trump administration, Pence was scapegoated as somehow having the power to meddle with the election results and cause a Republican loss.

The scapegoating intensified at the January 6 2021 riots at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. where Trump supporters chanted “hang Mike Pence”, the Jan. 6 select committee found.

Pence entered the race as a presidential candidate for the Republicans in the 2024 election. While former Vice Presidents generally have greater support and greater success in the running for the presidency, Trump created a lot of enemies for Pence. In October 2023, Pence withdrew his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

More on Scomo’s book

Mike Pence will write the foreword and feature on the cover of former Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison’s new book, which is months away from release.

The book will detail how Morrison, the 30th Prime Minister of Australia, was guided by his Christian faith in leading the country during 2018-2022, throughout “one of the toughest periods since the second world war”.

His publisher, Thomas Nelson, a branch of the Harper Collins Christian Publishing, writes on its website that unlike other books written by former Prime Ministers, Morrison’s will be “less political memoir and more pastoral encouragement”.

The inclusion of Pence’s foreword is expected to assist the book in expanding its market interest globally, especially in the US.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the US religious publishing market made $US757 million ($AUD1.175 billion) in 2022.

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As the year approaches its end, we’re looking back at the Top 10 most ridiculous, problematic, funny or sensational things we’ve covered at Women’s Agenda this year. 

Dominic Perrottet admitting he wore a Nazi uniform costume to his 21st birthday— January

Remember this conservative father of six? He stepped into the role as NSW premier in October 2021. In January this year he called a press conference to share the “mistake” he made when he put on a Nazi uniform costume at his “uniforms” themed 21st birthday party .

The 40-year old said he was “deeply ashamed” and “truly sorry for the hurt and the pain that it will cause people right across our state.”

“I just did not understand the gravity and the hurt of what that uniform means to people, not just to our state, but around the country and around the world,” he said.

He credited his parents with reminding him how “wrong and insensitive” his actions were. Two months later, he stepped down as Liberal leader after losing the state election to Labor. 

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Stuart Robert describing himself as “a dutiful cabinet minister” – March

In July 2019, Liberal MP Stuart Robert went on national TV to defend the Robodebt program. He did this despite knowing there were “massive” issues with it. The disastrous program was found to be unlawful, and resulted in a $1.8 billion government settlement to hundreds of thousands of victims.

Earlier this year, during the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, Robert told commissioner Catherine Holmes he was a “a dutiful cabinet minister.”  He said it was an act of “cabinet solidarity” to defend government programs even when you don’t agree with them.

He also admitted to  implementing “many things” that he “passionately disagrees with” because he is required as a minister to represent such programs and defend them — as he did with robodebt.

Despite having “massive personal misgivings” about the scheme, he said he waited for the solicitor general’s advice before raising concerns publicly. It took him until November 2019 to announce a “refinement” of the program.

Conservative men call the Barbie movie ‘man-hating’ and ‘an assault on men’ — July

During the “Barbiemania” craze earlier this year when Greta Gerwig’s much anticipated film finally dropped, some male right-wing public figures like Ben Shapiro, Ted Cruz, and Piers Morgan were up in arms, calling the movie “man-hating” and accusing it of abandoning notions of “faith and family”.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz even called it “Chinese communist propaganda”.

YouTuber Ben Shapiro was so insulted by it he called it “one of the worst movies” he’d ever seen. 

“The movie is a sh**show. Conceptually, the movie is a sh**show,” Shapiro said in the video, which has had 2.9 million views so far.

“The basic sort of premise of the film, politically speaking, is that men and women are on two sides and they hate each other. And literally, the only way you can have a happy world is if the women ignore the men and the men ignore the women.” 

Sky News commentator Piers Morgan called the film “an assault on men”.

“All the male characters in the Barbie world are simply called ‘Ken’,” he said. “So it’s pretty clear where this movie is going. This is an assault on not just Ken, but all men.” 

Who knew that a simple movie that put women in the forefront (instead of the background) could trigger such fragile emotions? 

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The last ‘male sanctuary’ – the barber shop that didn’t want to allow women — August

Meanwhile, in Adelaide, a barber shop publicly declared itself a ‘male only’ space. The owner of Robbie’s Chop Shop in Unley, Adelaide applied for an exemption from the state’s Equal Opportunity Act in order to provide a “male sanctuary” space for their customers.

The business posted an open letter on Instagram announcing its application for the exemption and calling on the community to support the business’ agenda. 

“A complaint has recently been made to the Equal Opportunity SA about our Robbie’s Chop Shop and its request that women observe our status as ‘the last male sanctuary’,” the letter read.

“Whilst we feel that this complaint is misconceived, we are doing our best to resolve the situation in a respectful and understanding manner to the satisfaction of all involved.”

The shop hangs signs that chart its Five Commandments, which include “Male Only. Don’t Lose Your Place. No Stress (It’s Ok Not To Be Ok). Love Thy Barber. BE A MAN!”

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The male barristers who put up a fake “Men in Law Awards” poster in Melbourne — September 

In September, inside the lift of Melbourne’s Owen Dixon Chambers, a fake “Men in Law Awards” poster was noticed by several observers. The poster purported to be from The Victorian Bar Association. “The Men in Law Awards” called for nominations for prizes including “most woke counsel” and “best virtue-signalling counsel.” 

The notice read: “The Men in Law Awards, in conjunction with various stakeholders and a panel of leading pseudo professionals, have developed a robust awards methodology to form the backbone for assessing, analysing and benchmarking Victoria’s leading legal professionals. Sadly this expertise will not be called upon in judging such nominations.”

It concluded with the recommendation: “Men: Bring a plate. Women: BYO”.

Journalist Louise Milligan posted a picture of the notice on LinkedIn, noting that “women barristers were not amused.”

Neither were we. 

Tim Gurner calling for a rise in unemployment to reduce “arrogance” in workers – September 

Tim Gurner, founder and CEO of property development company Gurner Group, made some particularly out of touch comments at the Australian Financial Review Property Summit in September. 

The 41-year-old millionaire criticised the productivity of tradespeople in relation to how much they are paid, saying “Tradies have definitely pulled back on productivity. They have been paid a lot to do not too much in the last few years, and we need to see that change.”

He added, “People decided they didn’t really want to work so much anymore through COVID, and that has had a massive issue on productivity.” 

According to Gurner, a “pain in the economy” was needed. He suggested a 40-50 per cent rise in the unemployment rate was needed, “…to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.”

“There’s been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them, as opposed to the other way around. It’s a dynamic that has to change. We’ve got to kill that attitude.”

We agree with Dr Collette Snowden, who said that much of the issue lay in the audience’s reaction to Gurner’s comments – or lack thereof.

“When Tim Gurner casually and sincerely suggested that pain be inflicted on other human beings – to put them in their place –  NOT ONE PERSON in the audience challenged him – they nodded their heads in agreement. He is not an isolated case,” Dr Snowden tweeted.

Anthony Pratt saying his superpower is that he is rich — October

Australian businessman and billionaire Anthony Pratt believes he has a superpower. What is it? Being rich. In October, new recordings and documents were released, reportedly suggesting the owner of paper and packaging giant Visy said in 2021 “My superpower is that I am rich.” 

The recordings revealed the nature of his relationships with former US President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, even King Charles III. 

When you have a net worth of over AUD$15.8 billion, perhaps you really can get away with saying anything. 

Scomo’s memoir that nobody asked for — October 

This year, we found out that former PM Scott Morrison has written a memoir. The description of the book on one website reads, “Less political memoir and more pastoral encouragement, Morrison is passionate about encouraging others to discover how they can access and see the many blessings of God in their own lives, no matter their circumstances, drawing on Jeremiah 29:11, that God’s plans are for our good and not our harm, to give us a future and a hope.”

The book, set to be released in February 2024, will chart how Christianity has guided the country’s 30th PM in his leadership and how God stood by him through thick and thin.

Will you be reading it alongside our journalist, Olivia Cleal? 

AI generated woman used as fake speaker at tech conference — November

In November, developer conference DevTernity in Latvia posted a photo of a woman under the name ‘Anna Boyko’ to their event website. She was listed as a staff engineer at Coinbase and a core contributor at Ethereum.

The problem is that she’s never spoken at any events and her supposed employer, Coinbase, had never heard of her. She was a fake profile listed on a prominent conference website to boost the perceived number of female speakers.

In the aftermath of the discovery, many speakers (real people) pulled out of the conference. A few days later, the event’s organiser Eduards Sizovs confirmed in an email to Bloomberg that the whole conference had been cancelled. 

What did he blame it on?

“Cancel culture.” 

In a statement on X, he admitted to having “auto-generated” a woman’s profile after a another speaker dropped out.

“But I won’t defend myself because I don’t feel guilty,” he wrote. “I did nothing terrible that I need to apologise for. The conference has always delivered on its promise.”

Miss France has short hair and some people got really offended — December 

Finally, to top off this list of ludicrous happenings, a beauty pageant in France crowned a winner with short hair — and some people were not happy. Miss France winner Eve Gilles was crowned the winner earlier this month, sporting a short brown bob and a sweeping fringe. 

Some users on X (formerly Twitter) called the 94-year old competition of going “woke” for crowning a woman who didn’t have the conventionally feminine hairstyle of long, luscious locks. Gilles said she wanted to “show that the competition is evolving and society too, that the representation of women is diverse, in my opinion beauty is not limited to a haircut or shapes that we have… or not”.

It goes without saying that her comments are contained within an industry where nobody is larger than size 6, or over the age of 30— so her definition of ‘diverse’ doesn’t actually reflect the true representation of women’s bodies across society. 

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Sometimes, God was the only one.

Next year, Australians will find out about God’s faithfulness to the nation’s disgraced leader in ScoMo’s new memoir, titled Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness.

To use his words, it was a “miracle” Morrison was elected in the first place. Really, it was a “miracle” he wasn’t re-elected in 2022.

The book is set to be 288 pages about how his Christianity guided him in his leadership and how God stood by him through thick and thin.

Morrison and his book publisher Thomas Nelson, a branch of the Harper Collins Christian Publishing, said the book will come at a time “where cancel culture, identity politics and deep secularisation is taking hold across so many western societies.” 

In other words, a time when Morrison is being held to account.

While I was hoping the announcement of Morrison speaking out about “God’s plan” was actually an announcement of a collaboration with Drake – something I’m sure we’d all love to see – by God, I am excited for this book.

There’s 246 days until publishing day (yes, I will be counting down the days). ScoMo’s book will be answering three big questions in life, and I for one am dying to hear the answers. 

Question #1: ‘Who am I? Discovering your purpose.’

We already know Scott Morrison was Australia’s 30th Prime Minister. He was also Health Minister, and Finance Minister, Treasury and Home Affairs, Industry, Science and Resources…

But I digress. Who is the real Scott Morrison?

Morrison has been open about his faith and the role of religion in his life since his maiden speech to parliament in 2008, where he thanked the Hillsong pastor Brian Houston who “greatly assisted” him and helped him guide his faith.

His gratitude lasted until 2022, when Houston resigned after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women in the Hillsong church.

Nevertheless, Morrison remains to be a devout Christian, a member of the Pentecostal church. His faith in God is so strong, it actually outweighs the faith he has in himself as a politician. 

I know, hard to believe.

“We trust in him. We don’t trust in governments. We don’t trust in United Nations, thank goodness,” he said to a congregation of the Victory Life Centre Pentecostal church in Perth in July 2022.

“As important as they might be – believe me, I’ve worked in it, and they are important – but as someone who has been in it, if you are putting your faith in those things like I put my faith in the lord, you are making a mistake.”

Don’t worry, Scott Morrison. I think our faith in you and your former government was long gone.

Question #2: ‘How should I live? Finding your pathway’

Scott Morrison was Australia’s Prime Minister from 2019-2022, what he declares as “the toughest period since the second world war.”

Which is true – we went through droughts, floods, bushfires, a pandemic, economic recession, women’s rights movements and more. In fact, we’re still experiencing the aftermath of it all.

ScoMo’s book pays homage to God and his “faithfulness throughout, win or lose, public criticism or public success.”

Well, at least God was there. Because Scomo wasn’t.

Where was Morrison in the deadly 2019 bushfires? On holidays in Hawaii. 

Where was he when the nation was in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic? Using taxpayer dollars to travel 350km interstate for Father’s Day.

Where was he when thousands of women and allies stood in front of Parliament House, wishing to speak with their prime minister to address sexual harassment and sexual violence against women?

Sorry ladies, it was a very busy day in Canberra that day. Besides, they should be lucky “they weren’t being met with bullets” for protesting. Thank God.

From a glance at Morrison’s “pathway”, maybe the question to answer instead should be “How not to live”.

Question #3: ‘What should I hope for?’ Embracing your future’

If you look carefully enough in Parliament House, tucked away on the backbench is Scott Morrison, who still sits as the Member for Cook.

There’s no sign of him going anywhere, even after adverse findings against the former Prime Minister in the Robodebt Royal Commission.

Perhaps Morrison hopes for a political comeback for his future. Perhaps he hopes Australia will forgive and forget his scandals, his lapses in judgements, his poorly timed holidays and his outrageous, embarrassing responses to public scrutiny.

“Three years ago I stood before you and I said I believed in miracles. I still believe in miracles,” he declared in his concession speech at the 2022 federal election.

Somehow, I just don’t think this is a miracle that will come true, Scott. And you should probably start embracing your future.

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It is true that in bygone times former prime ministers did not scurry to leave parliament after losing office. The most spectacular example is Australia’s leader during the first world war, William Morris Hughes. Bumped from office in 1923, the “Little Digger”, as he was known, remained in the House for another three decades, relentlessly scheming for power. Only death in 1952 brought closure to his parliamentary career.

Since the 1980s, however, the habit of former PMs has been to hastily abandon politics once the mantle of office has slipped their grasp. Malcolm Fraser established this modern pattern, triggering a byelection in his seat of Wannon two months after his Coalition government was defeated by the Bob Hawke-led Labor Party in March 1983.

From that time there have been few exceptions to this norm. Deposed from office by Paul Keating in December 1991, Hawke was out of the parliament by February 1992, with his seat of Wills won by the independent, Phil Cleary. Keating, too, followed the trend. After his Labor government lost power to the John Howard-led Coalition in March 1996, Keating resigned from the House the following month.

For Howard, the decision was taken out of his hands, as voters not only finished his prime ministership in November 2007 but terminated his more than three decades as the member for Bennelong.

Howard’s slayer, Kevin Rudd, did buck the trend after he was overthrown by caucus colleagues in June 2010. Convinced of the righteousness of his resurrection and thirsting to avenge his usurper, Julia Gillard, he stayed on for another parliamentary term, wresting the prime ministership back in June 2013. However, when electors put an end to his second government three months later, Rudd swiftly exited politics. Meanwhile, Gillard had resigned as the member for Lalor only weeks after being dethroned by Rudd.

Prone to eccentricity, Tony Abbott is the clearest exception to the rule of modern ex-PMs not dallying in parliament once their reign is over. Deposed by Malcolm Turnbull in September 2015, less than two years after becoming prime minister, Abbott lingered mostly aimlessly on the backbench for the rest of that term and the next. Recontesting his seat of Warringah again at the May 2019 election, he lost to the independent, Zali Steggall.

In contrast to Abbott, Turnbull left parliament with almost unseemly haste once he was unseated from power. After being dumped from the leadership in favour of Morrison in August 2018, he tendered his resignation as the member for Wentworth within a week. In the ensuing byelection, his seat too went to an independent, Kerryn Phelps.

How do we explain the modern pattern of former prime ministers sprinting to the exit door once their time in office is over?

In earlier times, there was a role for ex-leaders as elder statesmen in parliament. The best example is the Great Depression-era PM, Labor’s James Scullin. Despite failing health, he remained in the House for nearly another two decades and served as a trusted confidant to John Curtin throughout the harrying days of the second world war.

Modern former prime ministers can be a source of counsel to their successors, offering advice both welcome and unwelcome. But there is no appetite among colleagues for them to hang around in parliament fulfilling that function. The media are quick to portray them as an unhelpful distraction or curiosity, while opponents point-score off them. Better they are out of the way.

Another reason modern former leaders are impatient to move on is that, with extended lifespans and expanded opportunities post-office (for example, book-writing deals, lecture circuits, ambassadorships, business ventures, NGO and think-tank appointments), ex-PMs can now enjoy a second wind once out of parliament in a way that was not so open to earlier predecessors. Politics is now less of a lifetime vocation.

Why, then, is Morrison clinging on? We can discount his declarations that he is relishing being the member for Cook. Being a humble backbencher visits daily humiliation on him. Indeed, Morrison’s post-prime ministership has been most notable for his reputation being tarnished by revelations of his bizarre commandeering of several portfolios while PM, and by the adverse findings against him by the Robodebt Royal Commission.

These scandals have undoubtedly complicated an early departure for Morrison because, in going, he would be seen to be retreating in disgrace. He needs time and space from the scandals for the semblance of a dignified escape. The opportunities Morrison had hoped for following politics have potentially also thinned because of his sullied reputation.

Finally, there is the political calculation surrounding his exit for his party. Stay or go, Morrison is a headache for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. As long as the scandal-ravaged Morrison hangs around, he is damaging the Liberal brand.

Yet a byelection in his electorate is also unwelcome. Though Cook is very safe on paper, the history of the seats of three former PMs going to independents over the past 30 years is intriguing and not to be lightly dismissed.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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As victims, we have been disturbed and triggered by the contents of the damning report from the Royal Commission.  

The Government led the public to believe that the disadvantaged and marginalised not only had their hand in the honey pot, but they were being greedy. 

Who were these people who were apparently cheating? Mostly, it was those on insecure and fluctuating incomes. This included many women, single mums and students.  

At the time, I fitted into all three of these categories and I became a victim of Centrelink’s automated debt recovery system. It was slightly different to Robodebt’s income averaging system, because I had a new, fixed income job. 

It was the hardest time of my life. I had suddenly become a single mother, and was grappling with so many ‘firsts’. I was starting again, trying to feel safe, negotiating shared parenting and custody arrangements, organising child support, a solo relocation, arranging urgent repairs to our ‘new’ house, organising a divorce and property settlement, supporting my traumatised children, and adjusting to full time work and part time study. 

Struggling financially, I organised Family Tax Benefit B through Centrelink. This small welfare payment for single parents helped to pay some bills.  

Despite this, I still felt vulnerable and scared that I wouldn’t be able to cope financially. But that’s the thing, it is when we are most vulnerable that we need welfare. There’s often a lot going on in our lives and our stress levels are high. I didn’t plan to be in this situation – it just happened.  

After adjustments to our initial shared parenting arrangement, I immediately reported the changes to Child Support. They said it would automatically be reported to Centrelink so my welfare payment might reduce. 

After two weeks, I noticed my Centrelink payment hadn’t changed, so I rang Child Support again. They said the change would go through in time. I rang Centrelink but the phone rang out after an hour on hold. This happened several times, so I rang Child Support again. They assured me that the information would have gone through by now, so perhaps no change in the benefit would occur after all. 

Many months later, I started getting Robodebt notices saying there had been an overpayment. I was initially billed for a few thousand dollars, then it escalated with each letter. Eventually, a letter said I owed almost $20,000. I couldn’t repay this amount without selling the house. 

I tried to ring Centrelink. I rang and rang but couldn’t get through. When I finally got through, I was told the overpayment was my fault and that I had to pay. I rang Child Support, but they said they couldn’t help. I rang Centrelink again, and after many attempts, I was put through to a manager. She yelled at me and said I had deceived the Government about the amount of time I had the children in my care. 

I was hurt and incensed! I put in a complaint about the manager’s conduct and explained my story again, for the umpteenth time. Weeks later I received a call from another Centrelink manager who was reviewing my case.  

He said he believed that they had made a series of errors, including a technical error with the reporting system between Child Support and Centrelink. He said he could see how many times I had tried to contact them. He reversed most of the debt, except over $3000 that he said I needed to pay back. I did this over time by forgoing my fortnightly payment which was difficult. 

After many months of stress and countless hours on the phone, the nightmare was finally over. I would still dream about getting more debt notices. I was scared when I opened Centrelink letters. I knew I was able to fight back because I was educated, white, articulate and I knew my rights. I felt sad because I was aware other victims were less able to fight. 

So, how did our welfare system get into such a mess? The Commissioner Catherine Holmes said ‘Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals’. The report recommends that when automated decision-making is used, ‘there should be a clear path …for review’ for victims.  

Eventually, my life moved on and I no longer needed welfare. That is unremarkable, because it often happens when you support vulnerable women and children.  

Like my story, there is a narrative behind each automated debt recovery case. Listening to marginalised voices is the mark of a country whose people look after their mates and give others a fair go. 

Let’s hope ‘mateship’ and ‘a fair go’ make it home in time for The Voice referendum. 

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But today, there’s another aspect of his legacy in question — with March 15 marking two years since the March 4 Justice protests, and two years since Morrison shared that unforgettable line in parliament that, “not far from here such marches, even now, are being met with bullets.”

Morrison made the comment during Question Time back in 2021, which occurred as thousands of protesters had gathered in Canberra and locations all around Australia, for the March 4 Justice.

During that moment, he’d also taken the time to highlight the stats concerning violence against women — which included the one in four women who had suffered violence at the hands of an intimate partner since the age of 15. But he did not use the moment to outline anything his government would actually do about the problem.

His “met with bullets” line was the one that would be remembered, a condescending dismissal of the concerns of women.

As we wrote back in 2021 and as it’s clear now, Morrison had hoped that the March 4 Justice movement would be a minor annoyance. A hashtag involving a small group of protesters that could largely be avoided — but he was quickly proven wrong, and a little over a year later faced one of the biggest federal election losses in Australian history.

Morrison’s preference to describe the protesters as a “triumph of democracy” and a portrait of a “lucky” Australia where you can participate in such gatherings represents more than quotable quotes. It was a moment that would come to represent his legacy of serious misjudgment regarding the power of the women’s vote, and the potential of women that would culminate in women not only voting to boot his government out but also running for election to directly challenge his once safe Liberal colleagues.

In late 2022, the Liberal party’s own assessment of its massive 2022 Federal election loss found that a failure to address the concerns of women was one of the key drivers. The review stated that “very importantly, the prime minister was not attuned to the concerns of women.” It also noted that the Liberal party only holds three of the 30 seats across Australia that have the highest proportion of professional women.

But last night on ABC, there were other questions about Morrison’s legacy in focus.

While most of the 730 interview focused on Morrison’s take on the latest developments of the AUKUS announcement — with him described as the “grandfather of AUKUS”, Sarah Ferguson also described the former PM as the “grandfather of Robodebt”.

The Robodebt scheme is fast becoming known as one of the worst policy failures in Australian history. It saw hundreds of thousands of Australians illegally chased down for debts they did not owe and, as the Royal Commission into the scheme has heard over the past nine weeks, resulted in devastating consequences for some of those affected.

Morrison was the social services minister when the program was introduced in 2015. But he prefers to think of himself now as the prime minister who put a stop to the program, which is a creative way to frame his involvement.

But on reflection now in 2023, Morrison didn’t go so far as to call the program immoral, despite being found to be illegal. Asked about the morality of the scheme, he preferred to comment on the “regrettable” nature of it.

“It is totally regrettable and it is a very sad thing that has occurred,” he said. “I only wish that at the time when we were advised that it was unlawful.”

Ferguson pressed on the morality aspect further, and Morrison responded that “the outcome” of the scheme was different to its intention.

“I think the idea of ensuring the taxpayers’ money which is paid is done properly is the principle. And I think that principle is right. But clearly, how this was executed, on an industrial scale, failed that test.”

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In Love, Pamela, Anderson writes about her interaction with Morrison when she approached him as an advocate and vocal supporter of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. She had publicly urged him to appeal to British and American authorities to free Assange, appearing on 60 Minutes to make the case.

“While I was in Australia, I had hoped to meet with PM Scott Morrison, to make a plea in person to the Australian government to help Julian,” she wrote.

“After I wrote an open letter to Mr Morrison, he responded cheekily in the press by saying he’d love to meet me if he could bring a few of his buddies along. That didn’t go over well — women were unimpressed with his insensitive remarks, which, by then, had reached the international press.”

At the time, Morrison had gone on commercial radio and had been asked about Anderson’s pleas for Assange. 

Morrison replied that “I’ve had plenty of mates who’ve asked me if they can be my special envoy to sort the issue out with Pamela Anderson”. 

Anderson did not take kindly to Morrison’s “smutty” comments, as she described them, penning an open letter to him.

“You trivialised and laughed about the suffering of an Australian and his family. You followed it with smutty, unnecessary comments about a woman voicing her political opinion,” she wrote.

“Rather than making lewd suggestions about me, perhaps you should instead think about what you are going to say to millions of Australians when one of their own is marched in an orange jumpsuit to Guantanamo Bay — for publishing the truth.

“We all deserve better from our leaders, especially in the current environment.”

Morrison never apologised to Anderson, choosing to leave it the then Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer, to address the situation. O’Dwyer told the media that Morrison “probably” regretted his comments about Anderson.

“I think the prime minister probably regrets the comments that he made and I certainly know from a discussion that he didn’t mean to cause any offence,” O’Dwyer told the National Press Club at the time.

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I feel this a lot as a parent dealing with the logistics of three young kids, as well as my own friends and family.

There are many anxieties associated with such groups. How much is too much to post? How little is too little to respond? When is it OK to leave the group, given those who stay behind will receive a message showing that you’ve “left the chat”?

And when is it ok to spam the full group, especially when undertaking some personal research? For example, I need to find the parent of a child called ‘Jackson’ for my 6yo — but there are three Jacksons in the class and I have absolutely no idea which mother is which. Do you post a general callout, ‘Looking for Jackson’s Mum, the Jackson with blonde hair’, or risk inviting the wrong kid to the playdate?

There are unwritten laws about starting such groups also, creating plenty more opportunities to worry. When is sending an unsolicited inclusion into a group ok? How many people are too many? Who is excluded, do/will they know and will they care? What do you call the group?

And the big concern: what happens if you send the wrong message to the wrong group? Delete the message, knowing the group will see that you’ve done so? Or, send a follow-up to apologise, thereby creating even more communication?

Somehow, I don’t think former Prime Minister Scott Morrison suffers from these anxieties when it comes to WhatsApp groups.

Especially given the example we’ve learned about today regarding a group he established with a couple of cricketing legends.

During Morrison’s time as PM — and possibly while he was holding a number of other ministries — Morrison created a WhatsApp group called “The Legends” for a trio of “legends” including himself, former Australian coach Justin Langer and captain Pat Cummins. It’s not the first time Morrison’s shared WhatsApp groups with cricketers, having previously slipped messages into a group that included Langer and former captain Tim Paine.

The groups were revealed in a new Amazon documentary about the Australian men’s cricket team, and reported in the Sydney Morning Herald today, noting how the such communications provide some insight into the “crossover of sporting and political power in Australia.”

It’s not unusual for prime ministers to get cozy with cricketers. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently hosted the men’s team at Kirribilli House, where he reportedly urged David Warner to support his beloved NRL team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs (Warner prefers the Sydney Roosters). Morrison came under fire during the 2019/20 Summer bushfires for pursuing photo ops with the cricket team. Tony Abbott hosted both the Australian and Indian cricket teams back in 2015, and Malcolm Turnbull hosted the Australian and West Indies teams back in 2016. There is something prime ministers being around the “legends” or sport that Australians love to lap up — and politicians clearly love to pursue. Although, as we can see in the cricket example, there is definitely a penchant for hosting and celebrating men’s teams, even despite the success of their female counterparts.

In the Amazon doco, Cummins reveals the name of Morrison’s group was a little awkward — highlighting the importance of getting group names correct, and the risks that can occur if you double-up or create a name that’s too general. Cummins shares how he was already part of his own group of Australian bowlers called The Legends, so when he was added to Morrison’s own Legends group he had “a laugh with the boys thinking I’d better not send the wrong things to the wrong group.”

And while he may be a legend, Cummins is also human. And like the rest of us, can get it wrong. On one occasion, he did send a message – “a photo or a meme or something” — to the wrong “Legends” group and he had to quickly delete it. “Sorry PM,” Cummins said in the doco.

So rest easy on the WhatsApp concerns. Remembering Morrison will go with group names like “The Legends”, and even the likes of Cummins makes mistakes.

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Far from being stroked, the egos of some of the world’s once most influential men have been battered of late.

Not just internationally, but also here in Australia. With plenty of examples from just the past seven days.

Earlier this week, former prime minister Scott Morrison was cut down to size in front of the Robodebt royal commission. He evaded questions, he attempted to play politics, and thought he could even outsmart the Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes. But Holmes was having none of it, reprimanding Morrison as he squirmed in the witness box. She called out his rambles and ordered him to listen. “I do understand that you come from a background where rhetoric is important, but it is necessary to listen to the question,” she said, delivering the line in such a tone that we can be sure Morrison will never forget.

Robodebt, you might recall, involved a system of chasing people for payments in horrendous and demeaning ways. Morrison was a senior minister when it was created, with his department (prior to him becoming prime minister ) providing serious input into the scheme and using it to promote Morrison’s own reputation on being tough on welfare. During this week’s evidence, Morrison blamed everyone but himself for the failings in the system that have seen lives ruined and families destroyed.

Meanwhile, former US president Donald Trump has experienced the latest in a string of ego-damaging events, including the dismal vote for his Republican-backed candidates in the November midterms.

In a “major announcement” on Thursday, Trump launched his “official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card” collection – at only $99 each, they make excellent Christmas gifts! The cards feature Trump wearing a superhero costume and cape. He shared the announcement on the social media platform Truth Social, declaring that the limited edition cards “feature amazing ART of my Life & Career!”

Trump has been mocked relentlessly since the announcement.

Elsewhere, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk is fast learning that using social media to bully others, make fun of pronouns and promote transphobia and conspiracy theories, alongside his version of free speech, is not winning him any popularity contests, nor doing much for his wealth.

Musk was booed by the crowd at a show in San Francisco on Sunday, when he was invited on stage by Dave Chappelle. The moment was awkward, to say the least.

“Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for the richest man in the world,” Chappelle declared on stage. Far from receiving the positive affirmations Musk immediately appeared like he was about to accept, the crowd booed. For ten minutes. Increasingly getting louder and louder.

Chappelle made note of the controversy, and told Musk, “weren’t expecting this, were you?” From the video, it looks like both Chappelle and Musk are surprised by the reaction. “It sounds like some of the people you fired are in the audience,” Chappelle said.

Musk asked “Dave, what shall I say,” to which Chappelle suggested he say nothing. “You hear that sound, Elon? That’s the sound of pending civil unrest.” Later, Musk said – in a moment of rewriting history that is all too familiar among the three men in this piece – that the noise recording on the video is actually “90% cheers & 10% boos”.

Musk, meanwhile, has been offloading his Tesla stocks, selling $US3.6 billion this week (AU$5.2 billion). While not yet clear if the sale is related to his $US44 billion Twitter purchase, Musk is said to be making Tesla investors “furious”. Last week, Musk lost his title of World’s Richest Person to Louis Vuitton boss Bernard Arnault, according to Forbes.

It’s incredible how quickly some of the smuggest people on the planet find themselves on the back foot. The lies, the poor treatment of others, and illegitimate power grabs, eventually come back for you.

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