Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] What is the one job that is expected of the Prime Minister of a country? It's to be a leader, to make decisions for the good of the public and the planet and to be accountable for them—when they bring glory but also when they are bad decisions. Mr Morrison's track record is marred with not just bad decision after bad decision but, like Teflon, any notion of responsibility just slides off his back. Shirking responsibility has become an art form for this spin-over-substance Prime Minister.

We are in the seventh week of a COVID lockdown that has brought New South Wales to a standstill, to its knees. It is causing havoc in people's lives and for their livelihoods. Communities are under immense financial and health stress. They are anxious and traumatised at being separated from families due to border closures. All this because the Prime Minister of this country didn't get his act together on vaccine supply, denied the urgency of vaccination and kept giving mixed messages to the public and then couldn't even take responsibility for his botch-up and apologise properly. What arrogance!

Dodging responsibility, though, is nothing new for Mr Morrison. Who can forget his Hawaiian holiday in the middle of the worst climate induced bushfires we have experienced? And, when questioned about it, he told us: 'I don't hold a hose, mate, and I don't sit in the control room.' Utterly shameful!

And what about the sports rorts saga, where the Prime Minister consistently denied having any involvement and kept passing the buck, even after evidence of his office's involvement was revealed? Mr Morrison has not only refused the calls from tens of thousands for an independent inquiry into allegations of sexual assault but has appointed the minister against whom the allegations were made Leader of the House. Complete and utter bankruptcy! Let's be honest: Scott Morrison is not a leader, nor fit to be Prime Minister. (Time expired)