Ranking Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison, Australia’s 30th prime minister, will soon deliver his valedictory speech to the House of Representatives. As Morrison leaves parliament, it’s timely to ask where he is placed in the pantheon of Australia’s national leaders.

Farewell Scotty from marketing

Australia has churned through 6 Prime Ministers since John Howard left office in 2007 in a bipartisan melee of bitter back-stabbing but no-one was less qualified for the job than Scott Morrison, a man whose messianic belief in his own infallibility saw him secretly assume personal control of vast swathes of government during the pandemic.

Why Scott hangs on

Dethroned Australian Prime Ministers have tended to beat a hasty retreat from Parliament in recent decades, but Scott Morrison, like Tony Abbot before him, seems determined to keep a toehold on power.

Decline and fall

A new book traces the decline of Scott Morrison’s Coalition government from election triumph in 2019 through the Coronavirus pandemic to crushing defeat in 2022.

Bulldozed

A new book on Scott Morrison excoriates the former Prime Minister, characterising him as a messianic megalomaniac who lacked loyalty to friends or empathy for others.

The trials of Scott Morrison

After a three-hour debate, a motion to censure Scott Morrison for secretly appointing himself to a range of ministries in flagrant breach of constitutional norms has been passed in the Australian parliament.

Morrison’s meltdown

The report by former High Court Judge Virginia Bell into Scott Morrison’s bizarre decision to appointing himself to multiple ministries without telling any of his colleagues underlines how easily constitutional norms can be overriden.

Access without insight

The publication of “Plagued” by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, is destined to become a classic study of the perils for journalists in writing books about current political events.

A crisis of accountability

The problem with the secret ministerial appointments, which were not communicated to the cabinet of the day, relevant ministers or the public, is that our system of government depends on transparency and trust.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Morrison?

Leaders are often defined by how they respond to disasters – historically, the greatest leaders have steered us through the darkest times – and Scott Morrison’s premiership will be remembered for how he handled the coronavirus crisis.