What legacy will Scott Morrison leave?
Almost every Australian Prime Minister leaves something behind them that defines their time leading the country; some pivotal piece of nation-building, either physically or legislatively, which embodies both the leader and the era.
Whether Medicare or WorkChoices, there are achievements we can point to as being characteristic of the government of the day. Entire volumes have been written about the complex and storied legacies of Robert Menzies, Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard and the way they shaped our nation, for good and for ill.
What, however, are the legacies of the Morrison years?
If nothing pops into your mind it’s not because you’re forgetful: it’s because there’s a eerily whistling wind blowing through the mighty chasm that stands in the place where other PMs would have piled their achievements.
This is important, because if Scott Morrison loses the upcoming federal election, he will have been the longest-serving Australian Prime Minister since Howard – beating Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull for total days in office.
Rudd successfully negotiated Australia through the Global Financial Crisis and established the framework of our renewable energy system. Gillard launched the National Disability Insurance Scheme, universal paid parental leave, and the carbon not-actually-a-tax, and the mining absolutely-a-tax, despite having a minority government for much of her time in office.
Abbott’s achievements were more, in that he repealed as much of that as he could, and gutted Labor’s National Broadband Network, but he also hashed out a deal for new submarines and ramped up Australia’s punitive offshore detention system. Turnbull was fighting for his political survival and still changed the Senate voting system for the better, and of course oversaw the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
For Morrison, however, there have been a lot of announcements, and a lot of inquiries into things that didn’t need inquiries (honestly, what sort of PM announces an investigation by his own office into finding out what he himself knew, as happened with the sexual assault on Brittany Higgins?); but in terms of actual achievements? … nothing springs to mind.
Things have happened on Morrison’s watch, of course. There were bushfires around the country, affecting communities that have yet to receive the support his government promised, and the PM was notably annoyed at having to cut his Hawaiian holiday short when he didn’t even hold a hose, mate.
There was a global pandemic during which federal responsibilities were handballed to the private sector, federal money was overwhelmingly sluiced to companies that didn’t need it and away from entire sectors (the arts, the tertiary education sector) that were in desperate need, and the government announced abrupt public health policy changes for what looked an awful lot like reasons of political expediency, rather than, say, because Australia had to have the rapid antigen tests we required.
And that’s not all. The attempt to claw back non-existent debts from welfare recipients was eventually deemed illegal, while the Morrison-apppointed Attorney-General, Christian Porter, was accused of a historic rape, sued the national broadcaster for their reporting on the case, lost, and then had his fees paid by anonymous donors … and Morrison insisted that all of this was entirely within the rules.
That was the same response when colour-coded spreadsheets of marginal electorates appeared that corresponded to the awarding of federal grants – for everything from sporting facilities to railway car parks.
Morrison’s two signature promises before the election: to pass a Religious Discrimination Bill and establish a federal anti-corruption body, are notable because his own party prevented the former, and the latter has never eventuated at all.
It’s impossible to point at anything that will have a lasting effect on Australian culture, beyond more subsidies for industries that are contributing to rapid climate change, a sharp uptick in distrust of government, and an increased risk of domestic terrorism from anti-vax movements given support by a timid government driven by political advantage above all else.
Indeed, as this column was being written, Morrison explicitly came out in support of the anti-vaccine mandate protesters, insisting that he understood and that vaccine mandates were from state governments and had nothing to do with him. Which raises the question: if vaccines are a state issue, why the hell was he thumping his chest in the media about making an example of an unvaccinated tennis player?
Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame were excoriating during their appearance at the National Press Club last week, making the point that they were less concerned with the PM’s often clumsy language than they were of the staggering lack of action under his leadership in ensuring the safety of women in parliament. Higgins emphasised the point that she wasn’t looking for sympathy from the PM as a father of daughters, but that she ‘wanted him to use his power as prime minister’.
If Morrison loses the election he will leave a yawning void as his legacy, having built nothing, improved nothing, and left the nation weaker, angrier and more distrustful.
But if he wins the election it will endorse everything he’s done, and more importantly what he hasn’t. Do Australians truly want another term of a government that refuses to govern?
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
