Some things defy belief. This front page story is one:
“Former Covid prime minister Scott Morrison has been given the top King’s Birthday honour of an Companion of the Order of Australia for his work.
“Mr Morrison was given the honour in recognition of his ‘eminent service’ to the people and Australian parliament, noting his contributions to his ‘leadership of the national Covid-19 response’.”
I believe Scott Morrison is unworthy of this award. Let me make my case.
The cost of inaction in a crisis is immeasurable.
Not all governments have been caught off guard or unprepared for looming threats.
Having worked with both Labor and Coalition governments, I’ve seen leaders who were ready for disaster to strike.
In its final days, the Howard government was acutely aware of emerging threats like H5N1 (avian influenza, or bird flu) and H1N1 (swine flu). In a worst-case scenario, either could have triggered a global pandemic – one that would hit Australia hard.
We had to be prepared.
When COVID-19 struck, the Morrison government was caught off guard. Yet, Australia had once been poised to handle such a crisis.
In 2007, the Howard government took proactive steps, drafting plans to shield Australia from a potential pandemic. The Rudd government later built on this foundation, boosting funding to fortify the nation’s readiness.
My expertise lay in social security legislation – a critical but focused component of a much larger strategy. While a pandemic disrupts health, employment, education, and immigration, my role was to address the needs of income support recipients.
We prepared for the worst: widespread illness or loss of life and the ensuing disruption. For those relying on income support, we had to anticipate the unique challenges they’d face in such a crisis.
Above all, the health and safety of recipients and new applicants was paramount. This required a system where Centrelink interactions eliminated the risk of disease transmission – no face-to-face contact. The existing social security framework wasn’t designed for this and demanded a complete overhaul.
At the time, Newstart recipients reported to Centrelink fortnightly. In a pandemic, how could that continue? And how would we cope with a surge in applications for support?
The solution, though complex, was clear: all Centrelink services – whether for recipients or applicants – had to shift entirely online. There was no alternative. With the Rudd government’s fibre-to-the-premises NBN rollout in progress, this was within reach. Centrelink’s physical offices would close.
Over ten years later, here was your typical Centrelink office when the pandemic hit:
Newstart recipients were still required to meet mutual obligation requirements, despite growing calls for their suspension during the crisis.
The MyGov website – Centrelink’s critical link to income support recipients and applicants – crashed repeatedly. Whether this stemmed from the downgraded NBN (with Rudd’s fibre-to-the-premises rollout abandoned by the Abbott government) is unclear. I can’t say definitively whether a robust NBN would have prevented this, but the question lingers.
Australia once had a comprehensive plan for such a crisis. That plan simply vanished. What happened to it?
Let’s revisit 2007. The Howard/Rudd Preparedness for a Human Influenza Pandemic plan outlined critical measures to safeguard the nation. One key recommendation, found in Section 2.43 on page 59, emphasised deploying thermal scanners at airports to detect potential disease carriers early.
Why were thermal scanners so vital? Here is a succinct explanation:
In efforts to contain the highly contagious virus causing COVID-19, thermal cameras, set up at checkpoints or hand-held by personnel at airports, borders, and entrances to businesses, schools, and other institutions, are being used to screen large numbers of people for elevated body temperatures quickly and reliably.
A high temperature doesn’t confirm a coronavirus infection, but it’s a critical first step in detection. Those with elevated temperatures undergo further testing and, if positive, are isolated for treatment – a proactive measure to curb the spread.
Thermal scanners, deployed at airports, serve as an essential tool for early identification and containment of disease, a practice increasingly adopted worldwide. The 2007 Australia’s Preparedness for a Human Influenza Pandemic report rightly emphasised this, listing thermal scanners among its key recommendations. Kudos to its authors for their foresight.
Fast forward to August 2019, and the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza tells a different story. Due to copyright, I can’t quote it directly, but on page 136, thermal scanners are dismissed. Bewilderingly, the report claims their effectiveness is low and their use inconveniences travelers. Instead, as noted on page 127, the plan relies on pamphlets and brochures for incoming travelers.
In the critical task of identifying even one potential coronavirus carrier, which is more effective: a thermal scanner or a pamphlet?
I urge you to review page 9 of the 2019 report, which outlines “Pandemic stages,” and consider how the Morrison government’s response measures up in this crisis. The contrast speaks volumes.
On February 28, 2020, Katie Burgess, writing in The Canberra Times reported that the:
“The Morrison government urgently purchased nearly $150,000 worth of thermometers at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in case they had to be deployed at the borders.
But the Health Department says there are no current plans to subject travellers to temperature checks, on the advice of medical professionals.
… Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy told media on January 21 temperature checks had proven ineffective in past pandemics.”
Murphy, sadly, must have read the 2019 report which had reached the same conclusion: it didn’t work for pandemics in the past so it obviously won’t work with any pandemics in the present or the future.
Ever heard of tunnel vision, Ms Murphy?
Thermal scanners aren’t a cure-all. They won’t stop the spread of COVID-19 or catch every carrier, but they’re a vital tool for early detection, as countries like China have demonstrated with measurable success.
Ever heard of tunnel vision, Mr Murphy?
Thermal scanners aren’t a cure-all. They won’t stop the spread of COVID-19 or catch every carrier, but they’re a vital tool for early detection, as countries like China have demonstrated with measurable success.
Australia, under an ill-prepared government lagged far behind. The Morrison administration’s inaction stood in stark contrast to the proactive measures outlined in earlier pandemic plans.
Amid the COVID-19 blame game, Victoria’s outbreak dominated headlines, many had rushed to pin the blame on Premier Daniel Andrews. Some, were echoing Donald Trump’s inflammatory “China virus” rhetoric. and had shamefully dubbed COVID-19 the “Victoria virus.”
Yes, many outbreaks nationwide were traced back to Melbourne, but how did the virus reach Melbourne to begin with? Did it arrive from Sydney, Canberra, Queensland, the USA, China, or the UK? The truth is, it came from somewhere – and there was a single body is responsible for controlling its entry and spread: the Australian federal government.
Consider this: Scott Morrison declared COVID-19 a national pandemic on February 27, 2020. Yet, just two weeks later, passengers from the Ruby Princess cruise ship were permitted to disembark in Sydney, a decision that fueled the virus’s spread. Such failures undermined any claim of “eminent service” during the crisis.
Those who were quick to blame Premier Daniel Andrews for Victoria’s COVID-19 outbreaks might want to reconsider.
Let’s return to the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza, published in August 2019. This report addressed critical questions that surfaced during the pandemic, including two recurring issues: school closures and outbreaks in aged-care facilities. Who was to decide whether schools should close? If it’s a state responsibility, can the federal government override it? And who oversees aged-care facilities – is it a state or federal duty?
Due to copyright restrictions, I can’t quote the report directly, but key sections provide clarity on these and other questions:
• Page 31, Section 4.1.4: Implementation of public health measures (second paragraph).
• Page 32, Section 4.1.6: Communication (first paragraph).
• Page 145: Timing (regarding school closures).
These sections reveal the federal government’s role in coordinating and guiding such decisions. Given Morrison’s declaration of a national pandemic on February 27, 2020, his administration’s failure to provide clear leadership on these fronts further undermined claims of “eminent service” during the crisis.
My personal anecdote
My rural Victorian city had been fortunate, spared from COVID-19’s grip thanks to our community’s vigilance and the state government’s stringent measures. Still, I was eager to get vaccinated.
But there was a catch. AstraZeneca, as widely reported, was linked to rare blood-clotting deaths. While the risk was minuscule for most, my doctor warned that my hereditary condition – one I won’t detail here – placed me firmly in that tiny, vulnerable group.
She urged me to stay safe and wait for Pfizer, which was imminent. But when Pfizer became available, I – on the wrong side of 60 – was denied access due to my age group.
Perplexed, I wrote to Health Minister Greg Hunt, seeking an explanation. Why, given my condition and my doctor’s advice, was I barred from receiving Pfizer? Weeks later, I received a polite two-page response from the Department of Health. It praised the federal government’s pandemic response but sidestepped my situation, suggesting I consult my GP – a step I’d already taken, prompting my letter in the first place.
To be certain about AstraZeneca, I sought a second opinion from another doctor at the same clinic. After reviewing my records, she echoed the first: AstraZeneca posed too great a risk, and she’d seek approval for me to receive Pfizer, as vaccination was critical.
She couldn’t secure that approval.
It felt as though no one cared. The government’s relentless push for vaccination rang hollow when I was denied the only vaccine deemed safe for me. Surely, a system could exist to accommodate those whose doctors advise against AstraZeneca, ensuring we, too, could be protected.
This personal ordeal underscored the Morrison government’s broader failures in managing the vaccine rollout – a far cry from the “eminent service” celebrated in his award.
Even the most unworthy recipient admitted the availability of the vaccines as one of his failures:
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Knowing the way that the prick Morrison operates..he has plenty of history,I’ll bet my arse he had an army of lobbyists working on his behalf.Stand by for all the denials.
Nothing says how irrelevant these awards are than the smirk on Morrison’s dial.
Gone from office, yet he keeps insulting us.If there was ever a deadly virus out of Wuhan,it would be him.
This really denigrates the status of this award. I can not think of a more unworthy recipient. He really is the blot on the Australian nation.
Words fail me, as a person with a medical background, I followed the state of affairs and how Morrison ‘handled’ the Covid-19 pandemic, pitiful, in my opinion, he would have been a better recipient of the how I stuffed it up award. One of our worst prime ministers, his teflon coating worked well for him as so many questions remain unanswered. Who proposed him for this award?? probably the same way he became Minister for everything during his time in office.
What intellectual midget, appalling like-minded misogynist, rusted-on racist or anti-social psychopath had the GALL and TEMERITY to nominate this like-minded rusted-on alpha male misogynist, despicable pathological liar, devious power-obsessed megalomaniac and callously inhumane racist political psychopath, Scott Morrison, as a fitting person to receive the Companion of the Order of Australia? Really? WTF! First of all, it was NOT Morrison who handled the management of Covid-19 so well, it was the dedication, responsibility and hard work of ORDINARY Australians who achieved THAT aim – Morrison was in the background doing what he and the LNP do best: whining, complaining and making a thorough nuisance of themselves!
My God, the Jerk with the Permanent Smirk, aka Morrison, is not only an internationally-condemned pathological liar, but a born-to-rule deviant and dangerously undemocratic sociopath who tried – and almost succeeded – in surreptitiously taking over an excessive number of portfolios (see link below). The man has no shame; he is a rusted-on narcissist who truly believes he has a God-given RIGHT to rule over us like some third world African dictator!
Morrison’s total lack of integrity, zero credibility and callous indifference to the welfare and suffering of working-class Australians, his attempt to completely defund Medicare and any type of program that provided disadvantaged Australians with some type of benefit, makes Morrison a staggering, truly offensive bible-thumping hypocrite. The fact that Morrison went out on a limb to defend and protect Frank Houston, a notorious recidivist paedophile who just happened to be the father of his best friend, Brian Houston, shows that Morrison not only displays a callous disregard for the countless young victims whose lives were destroyed by Frank Houston, but proves that Morrison has ZERO integrity and not one iota of discernment! Brian Houston is the chest-beating leader of the notoriously dubious CULT of HILLSONG to which Morrison secretly handed over more than $4 MILLION of hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Fancy a Crime Minister having the depravity to surreptitiously hand over $4 MILLION of OUR taxpayer funds (and probably a LOT more) to a notorious misogynistic, child-abusing CULT – it says SO MUCH about Morrison’s unspeakable determination to prop up the worst kinds of sociopaths, religious hypocrites and criminal fraudsters at OUR expense!
Morrison remains one of the most highly unpopular, thoroughly despicable, totally deluded narcissistic politicians in our nation’s history – a man who tried (and failed) to hide his appalling level of inhumanity, political corruption, condescending elitism and cruelty behind a facade of phony bible-thumping hypocrisy! Morrison ticks every box as an unconscionable political psychopath who should be facing prosecution and REAL jail time instead of being nominated for an Award which, shockingly, bestows such HONOUR to a power-obsessed, attention-seeking, elitist and misogynistic sociopath who has NOT got one drop of sincerity, compassion, integrity, moral fibre and, indeed, has NEVER retained, and is highly unlikely to attain, one iota of HONOUR himself!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-17/what-powers-did-scott-morrison-secretly-give-himself/101341276
It still has not been explained how he managed to have the GG sign off on his various ministerial appointments and how this was done in secret without pubic knowledge.
Is there a glaring hole in our constitutional arrangements? If so we need to fix it.
We are seeing what is happening in the US when an adventurous and corrupt leader seeks to bypass the Constitution and the Congress using, in his case, dodgy Executive Orders.
Katie et al have said it all; a most undeserved, illegitimate award for ”excellent” service to the people of Australia???? Robodebt?? Secret Ministries?? Excessive spending on government press releases from Manus Island?? And that is only a few of his disgusting policy involvements.
However, I fell that the most important contribution to the COVID-19 story has been overlooked in this article.
Back when the Murdoch Media Manipulation Monopoly orchestrated the ascension of the Toxic RAbbott COALition misgovernment, one of the first acts by RAbbott was to cut the Pandemic Preparedness Group funding, thus disabling the experts who could have made all the difference to the slap-dash COVID-19 maladministration that has been rewarded here.
The entire concept of “honours and awards” is that they are granted to those who have EARNED them through significant achievements or contributions to society. This whole thing whereby they are just given by default, handed out like lollies, to former PMs is abhorrent. Morriscum could not have gone any further to be the absolute opposite of what is required to be given an award. He will go down in history as the single worst and most corrupt PM, a pentecostal grub who caused countless people to die, broke a plethora of laws and a compulsive liar like his idol Donald J Trump.
Giving ScoMoFo an award for his Covid response is like giving Dementodon the Nobel for economics.
Is Tony Abbott on the selection committee?
Thank you Michael, splendid work; I hear your indignation.
What a farce this has become, exceeded only by that of Charlie and his missus being our landlords.
The award should be conditional on Morriscum unwinding the stupid AUKUS millstone which seems to resisting its deletion from our future plans.
Katie, what a brilliant summation.
I don’t understand why he wasn’t given awards for, say:
Services to International trade.
Compassion for refugees.
Services to the Tourism Industry.(Inc. New Zealand)
Honourable mention for the non shooting of women protesters.
Ceaseless backgrounding against perceived enemies.
The list is almost endless.There could be a Royal Commission into the sins of this bastard.Fuck Morrison.
Mr Shevil Mathers – indeed, who nominated him ???? we deserve to know !!!!
In one fell swoop the awards are tarnished forever
But, but, look at he did during the Covid crisis, he saved lots and lots of people, amongst other things, so he deserves the Craptastic Odious Arsehole award says Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-saved-lives-why-former-pm-deserves-highest-honour-in-the-land-20250609-p5m5zc.html
No mention of Robodebt, or “I don’t hold a hose mate” or pissing off to Hawaii while everything burned or attempting to take over the gubmint by himeself or trying to shove his happy clapping and hand waving ways down our throat…time to stop there I think. I’m starting to feel like I need to find the throwing up bin very quickly.
What in the heck were these people thinking?
The Council for the Order of Australia determines the nominees for the King’s Birthday Honours List. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet explains that the Council makes recommendations directly to the Governor-General, who then makes the final appointment.
Talk about handballing responsibility somewhere else! And certainly does not say much about the office of the GG, however we know how controversial that has been with Kerr, Hollingworth, and Hurley. So what was Moyston thinking?
Only a covert ministry or two, an onion burp and budgie smuggler away from a knighthood.
The awarding of a COA to the most dis-honorable ex-member for Cook, the one and only Scottyfromadvertising Morrison was first broached last Friday by Crikey.
Cam Wilson’s analysis is worth a read too.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/06/06/scott-morrison-kings-birthday-honour-crikey/
My response to that is here:
“But, but, but….. Scummo was the registered title-holder of at least FIVE secret ministries….on top of his gig as pm. Surely that has to be worth something.
Scottyfromadvertising AC……Seriously ?
In no particular order :
Robodebt. “I don’t hold a hose”. Hawaii. “It’s not a Race”. The Covid response in general. “She has to Go”. Sportsrorts. Secret ministries. “God came to me as an Eagle”. Trade relations with China. FAWKUS. et al.
The only thing that he missed out on was being the third sitting pm to fail to be elected at the ballot box, after the Lying Rodent and the Mad Monk.
Who nominated this clown in the first place, and who was the f…..king moron who then decided “Yeah. This bloke fits the criteria. Good choice”
The Council for the Order of Australia is an independent body that considers nominations for appointments and awards in the General Division of the Order and makes recommendations to the Governor-General.
The Council meets to consider whether each nominee in the Order of Australia has:
A – Demonstrated achievement at a high level.
B – Made a contribution over and above what might be reasonably expected through paid employment, or
C – Made a voluntary contribution to the community which stands out from other volunteers.
The ex member for Cook ticked which box exactly?”
Since Friday, further thoughts have occurred.
Why didn’t Ms Moyston in her position as GG just deny the suggestion as being unsuitable?
If the british monarch of the day has the power to turf out an Elected Guvvm’nt, surely they have the power to strike unsuitable recipients from various awards lists.
And finally, I suppose because it is now such a long time ago, most people have forgotten that our happy-clapping Scumbucket got himself into politics through lying, cheating, and conniving his way into the safe seat of Cook at the expense of one Peter Towke. Exactly the same methodology Scumbucket utilised in 2018 to slide into the Big Chair behind Malcolm, with his glib “I am ambitious for HIM” while all the time working in the background to dethrone turdballs and set himself up as the only alternative.
Once again, the requirements for nomination are :
A – Demonstrated achievement at a high level.
Unless political skullduggery is now a truly valued skill, the ex-member for Cook has at NO stage, in any form whatsoever, demonstrated any ability to achieve anything that rises to the level of mediocrity, let alone “High”.
B – Made a contribution over and above what might be reasonably expected through paid employment.
Scottyfromadvertising was a publicly elected official, on a high salary, with benefits, and serious responsibilities. At every single step he failed his constituents, both locally and at a federal level, completely and utterly. From Robodebt to Hawaii he ignored advice and the law, trampled the rights of those less fortunate, and absolved himself of duty.
C – Made a voluntary contribution to the community which stands out from other volunteers.
When? Where? How? Scumbucket did nothing for free, for anyone else, for the greater good. Unless there was a personal kicker, he was just NOT interested.
So I ask again. “The ex member for Cook ticked which box exactly? Can anybody, anywhere, name one single act of public minded decency that would make Scott John Morrison worthy of the title AC?”
Footnote. (From Wiki) “On 23 January 2024, he announced his departure from politics altogether, and resigned his seat of Cook on 28 February 2024. After leaving office, Morrison became involved in a scandal after it was revealed that he had secretly held several ministerial positions while serving as prime minister, which led to Parliament passing a censure motion against him. In his subsequent career, Morrison has worked as an advisor to various lobby groups and a public speaker.”
Scottyfromitsallaboutme. AC
What a load of BOLLOCKS
New Bruce,
You forgot to mention Scummo’s vomit buckets full of so-called “curries”.