‘Peter Dutton and Josh Frydenburg knew, months out from the election, that they were headed for disaster under Scott Morrison.’
Yes, it is nine months after the defeat of the Morrison government, and it has taken me this long to get around to reading Ms Savva’s book. I was always going to read it. After all, I found Ms Savva’s earlier books about Coalition governments — the behaviour of Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin (‘The Road to Ruin’) and the Morrison coup by Scott Morrison against Malcolm Turnbull (‘Plots and Prayers’) disturbingly fascinating.
Clearly, Ms Savva does not like Scott Morrison. Clearly, based on research undertaken for this book and comments by interviewees, she is not alone. And, if you need reasons to mislike Scott Morrison, this book is testament to the mistakes he made and the arrogance he displayed . No, Scott Morrison is not personally responsible for everything that went wrong in Australia between 2019 and 2002. He didn’t start the bushfires or cause the Covid-19 pandemic. But he didn’t need to hold a hose to demonstrate leadership, and the Covid-19 vaccine rollout was poorly handled. I would give him some credit for establishing the National Cabinet as a mechanism for managing the pandemic but holding up New South Wales as the ‘gold standard’ for pandemic management would have been risible if it wasn’t so tragic.
This comment (in relation to the ‘captain’s pick’ of Katherine Deves as the Liberal candidate to Warringah) sums it up perfectly:
‘It was quintessential Morrison. Refuse to admit a mistake, stick with it, and turn it into an even bigger one. Allow a problem to become a crisis before mishandling it.’
What makes this book worth reading is Ms Savva’s access to key players (except Scott Morrison himself, of course) and her own experience. Labor had learned from the 2019 election while it seems that the Coalition had not. Morrison might have been praying for another miracle, but Labor, the Greens and the ‘Teal’ Independents had other ideas.
Perhaps my favourite line in this book is this one: about Barnaby Joyce being ‘to Liberal voters what Roundup was to weeds’.
This book is well worth reading if you are interested in Australian politics (and contemporary personalities). The last word belongs to Nikki Savva:
‘He was the worst prime minister I have covered, and I have been writing about all of the since Gough Whitlam. He simply wasn’t up to the job.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Book 7 in my 2023 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. I’ve entered as a ‘Nonfiction Grazer’ and this book should be included under the heading of ‘Politics and Government’.
Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large 