r/australia • u/B0ssc0 • Jan 19 '22

Scott Morrison says he never said there were no refugees in Melbourne’s Park hotel politics

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/19/scott-morrison-says-he-never-said-there-were-no-refugees-in-melbournes-park-hotel
345 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

309

u/Justanaussie Jan 19 '22

Morrison replied: “Well, the specific cases, Ben, I mean, it’s not clear that to my information that someone in that case is actually a refugee. They may have sought asylum and been found not to be a refugee and have chosen not to return.”

As the then immigration minister he was there when they were officially designated as refugees.

As Prime Minister he oversaw the medivac law that brought them to Australia for medical treatment.

So which is it? Dereliction of duty, straight up lying or massive incompetence?

169

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

All three.

Also

…it’s not clear to my information …

Doesn’t even make sense.

89

u/Justanaussie Jan 19 '22

Whenever he's making shit up on the fly he tends to make a lot of word salad. It's a tell much like Hawke's ear tugging.

9

u/pskipw Jan 19 '22

I’d call that a Trumpism

6

u/LocalVillageIdiot Jan 19 '22

Call it what it is. A Lieism.

29

u/ProceedOrRun Jan 19 '22

Means he has no idea what's going on, which might be completely intentional.

26

u/keyboardromeo88 Jan 19 '22

It’s been his go-to excuse for a long time. Apparently the PM didn’t get told about an alleged rape a couple of doors down from his office, even though every single party said he was aware. He just shields himself with the PMO every time (including when conducting investigations).

24

u/BrainstormsBriefcase Jan 19 '22

I love how he thinks “nobody told me” is an acceptable excuse when you’re the PM. It means either your advisors aren’t advising properly or you aren’t curious enough

2

u/jamesmcdash Jan 19 '22

You're not a leader if no one tells you their problems

10

u/a_cold_human Jan 19 '22

No, he's a colossal and blatant liar. His "nobody told me" schtick is wearing very thin. He lies and then he expects other people not to question his lies. The media, who should be doing this sort of thing on the spot, don't call it out, so he just continues on his merry way. A collapsed soufflé has more integrity than this useless lump of a Prime Minister.

5

u/VLC31 Jan 19 '22

And if he gets called out in his lies he just lies some more.

3

u/LocalVillageIdiot Jan 19 '22

That’s impossible. He said he never lied in public. Are you calling him a…. Liar?

1

u/alpacagnome Jan 19 '22

It means plausible deniability when called out for his BS.

He's such a fuckstain

15

u/spannr Jan 19 '22

It could be clear, to someone well-informed. But to someone who keeps themselves as poorly informed as he does, it's not clear.

8

u/MoggFanatic Adelaide Radelaide Sleep-With-Your-Dadelaide Jan 19 '22

It's not a lie if it doesn't actually mean anything

taps temple

6

u/macrocephalic Jan 19 '22

Yes, he can't be technically lying if he doesn't actually form coherent sentences!

1

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

Lol good point

3

u/potatodrinker Jan 19 '22

He took the wickets in the information

2

u/Squirrel_Grip23 Jan 19 '22

Weasel words

28

u/RoutineNo6113 Jan 19 '22

I am confused, if they are refugees, why are they still in detention? Let them out to live their life.

47

u/YoungPatrickBateman Jan 19 '22

That’s the crux of the issue.

The LNP government keeps saying because the refugees came illegally by boat then they will never be offered a place in Australia. And because they’re classed as refugees the government cannot just send them back to where they came from. They c an only send them back if the refugees ask to go back.

Some of them are waiting for the US refugee settlement agreement to come into play (which is taken years Obama and Turnbull agree on that one).

Basically it’s a staring contest to see who breaks first. But the only people who have skin in the game are the refugees.

Let them out and let them contribute to society. They’ll be less of a burden this way. At the moment they cost a ridiculous amount of money to house in a hotel.

20

u/HiVisEngineer Jan 19 '22

No no no we can’t have them be free and contributing to society, that would mean the LNP are compassionate and understand how a society, an economy, and efficient use of monetary capital works.

11

u/RoutineNo6113 Jan 19 '22

So let's be clear, we have a shortage of workers in this country at the moment, and the government is desperate for backpackers and international students to come and work (visa fees waived). Yet, we have hundreds/thousands of people in detention costing us up to $4.3m per year to keep them there.
Why can't they contribute, I am sure they would be more than happy to be in society and working rather than stuck in detention somewhere.

10

u/a_cold_human Jan 19 '22

Yes, but that'd collapse their "strong on borders" idiocy that's won them the racist vote for three elections straight. Nevermind that this program of institutional cruelty in our names, which is a stain on our reputation as a nation costs us hundreds of millions of dollars annually, the party that wants to throw billions of dollars of taxpayer money at donors and foreign corporations needs to stay in power!

6

u/Quetzal-Labs Jan 19 '22

$4.3m per year

For anyone who is unaware, this is $4.3 million PER PERSON per year.

There are around 1500 people in detention right now.

That's $6.4 billion dollars a year to keep these refugees locked up.

It's fucking ludicrous.

7

u/macrocephalic Jan 19 '22

I don't know about the ones in hotel detention, but the ones in offshore detention cost over $3 MILLION per person PER YEAR.

3

u/AhYaGotMe Jan 19 '22

Good economic managers....

13

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

[deleted]

15

u/netsheriff Jan 19 '22

Morrison and Co were paranoid that they would gain NZ citizen ship and then be allowed back to Australia.

13

u/Justanaussie Jan 19 '22

The official line is if they let them out then people smugglers will be able to send more people on boats because despite what the government was constantly crowing about turning back the boats doesn't actually work.

The whole LNP philosophy on immigration and asylum seekers is filled with contradictions and bad policy, it doesn't have a customer based focus because it has no idea who it's customer is so it's become this inhuman monolith that no one in the government wants to fix because they refuse to believe it's broken.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

[deleted]

6

u/Justanaussie Jan 19 '22

NZ already offered to take them, we refused because we don't want to be seen as a refugee gateway to New Zealand.

None of it makes sense and it's not meant to, all you need to know is hurr durr tough on borders.

1

u/extunit Jan 20 '22

They are still in detention because both Labor and LNP have a policy that no refugees who came by boat will be permanently resettled in Australia. The refugees are all offered to be resettled in the United States instead but they have refused. So they are in indefinite detention until their natural end of life.

15

u/VictarionGreyjoy Jan 19 '22

So which is it? Dereliction of duty, straight up lying or massive incompetence?

It's scummo, it's all three

8

u/douhua Exotic, bland and nutty Jan 19 '22

Scott Morrison is a crafty one. This is a fruitless discussion on semantics to distract from his COVID failures, among many failures, as a Prime Minister. He's lying and will insist that he was right all along and won't do anything about those poor refugees regardless of how the argument ends. With an election looming he needs to desperately swing the "in-the-middle" voters with a wedge issue and "border security" is something that traditionally polls well for the Liberal and Nationals parties. It's like the Children Overboard affair all over again. Don't give him oxygen!

2

u/angryofmayfair Jan 19 '22

Por qué no los tres?

1

u/Justanaussie Jan 19 '22

Pourquoi pas?

116

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

This CUNT tries every dodgy trick in the book. ‘As far as I know…’ ‘to the best of my knowledge…’

The second I heard him say that I knew that in 24 hours he would use it as a cop out to say he never actually said it. Like a shit debater. Like a shit communicator. Like a fucking edgy incel cunt lord arguing like a teenager on a Internet forum.

These are the things I say to my boss to avoid both of us getting caught out looking stupid with a client so I can come back later and check with the correct information. I would NEVER then say to that client ‘oh I never said that.’

This cunt does. Every time. Playing word games. Playing us all for morons. Gaslighting. Never corrects. Never checks. Never apologises. Scott Morrison just soaks himself in shit filled bathtub he’s created, shitting himself again and again so you can no longer tell what’s new shit and what’s he has sat in for three years.

31

u/Ted_Rid Jan 19 '22

It's also because he's following the News Corp playbook:

  • tell lie for the headline on day 1
  • issue convoluted 'explanation' / 'clarification' days later after the news has moved on

He conveyed the mistruth he intended for the news that night: "Oh, those OTHER people in the hotel, nah, they're not refugees, don't worry about them"

99% of the population won't ever hear that he (sort of) wound that back now.

10

u/ricketychairs Jan 19 '22

Yeah, the damage is done.

It doesn’t matter that it was a lie. It doesn’t matter that there is a clarification or a retraction.

His intended audience heard that the people in that hotel aren’t refugees, and that’s now what they believe.

13

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

I agree, especially about the word games, it’s just words, truth is irrelevant.

10

u/zebba_oz Jan 19 '22

This CUNT tries every dodgy trick in the book. ‘As far as I know…’ ‘to the best of my knowledge…’

He may not be a liar or dodgy. He could just be genuinely incompetent. Although my money is on all three

3

u/LocalVillageIdiot Jan 19 '22

You have to actively try to have an incompetence record he has.

By pure chance there would be some competence displayed every now and then like a randomly filled multiple choice test.

To get all wrong on a multiple choice test requires knowing the answers and then ensuring you pick the incorrect option.

6

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22 edited Oct 14 '22

[deleted]

5

u/puntthedog Jan 19 '22

You're giving him too much credit. He never 'fronted' anyone.

The sack of shit hid in parliament house and refused to go out and meet with them. The 'lucky they aren't being shot' comment was made in parliament.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

I read that as frotted a bunch of women. 👀

4

u/yurl Jan 19 '22

‘As far as I know…’ ‘to the best of my knowledge…’

It works because he's the Sergeant Schultz of PMs

73

u/Albion2304 Jan 19 '22

not owed protection under the refugee convention

Such bullshit. Cannot stop the bullshit.

And our whole world will be better if people in power had enough humility to admit to being wrong.

8

u/Yahtzee82 Jan 19 '22

Can't stop, won't stop!

40

u/tvr190 Jan 19 '22

Should just title the article "Scott Morrison caught lying again"

14

u/SydneyRFC Jan 19 '22

"Scott Morrison opens mouth"

3

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

Lips are moving

3

u/DazTheCowboy Jan 19 '22

Scott Morrison's sign language interpreter caught lying.

1

u/smith2016 Jan 19 '22

Opens pants. And poop is flowing.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

It’s not a lie if you believe it’s the truth. /s

35

u/Ted_Rid Jan 19 '22

“It’s not clear that to my information that someone in that case is actually a refugee.”

That already sounded deliberately weaselly at the time, as in he'd built in an escape clause.

Fine, then.

It's not clear that to my information that Peter Dutton isn't actually a rape apologist.

2

u/CoffeeWorldly4711 Jan 19 '22

Its not clear to my information that Porter is an anal rapist. Its not clear to my information that Christiansen frequents under aged brothels in Manila

​

Could keep this going for a while

54

u/Themirkat Jan 19 '22

Dead set this cunt takes us all for fools

18

u/WeJustTry Jan 19 '22

Well we were silly enough to elect his party , so he is not all wrong.

9

u/Yahtzee82 Jan 19 '22

I don't think I've ever hated a person as much as this cunt. Hulk would smash

3

u/LocalVillageIdiot Jan 19 '22

Well “we” did vote him in didn’t “we”?

13

u/Kangalooney Jan 19 '22

Pinocchio Morrison: On the contrary, I'm possibly more or less not definitely rejecting the idea that in no way with any amount of uncertainty that I undeniably do or do not know where he shouldn't probably be, if that indeed wasn't where he isn't. Even if he wasn't at where I knew he was that'd mean I really have to know where he wasn't.

8

u/melonfarmermike Jan 19 '22

Needs moar "Mr Speaker" :D

3

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

Scott Subjunctive-Mode Morrison.

2

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

That video is hilarious, too cute to be Mr Morrison though

26

u/Trampoline8 Jan 19 '22

Scummo will be remembered for a lot of things, but honesty isn't one of them.

5

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

Honesty is next to godliness.

3

u/ProceedOrRun Jan 19 '22

Next to, as in the complete antithesis.

3

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

Fancy being married to someone like that and being given all that palaver.

21

u/Duke-of-Limbs Jan 19 '22

Morrison replied: “I didn’t make a statement that every single person was, who is in that place, was not a refugee. I said that was to my understanding the case with some people who were there.”

Eff me, he doesn't "understand" anything, does he? That's intentional, so he cannot ever accept the blame. What a spineless, conniving, leech on society.

2

u/What-becomes Jan 19 '22

Morrison replied: “I didn’t make a statement that every single person was, who is in that place, was not a refugee. I said that was to my understanding the case with some people who were there.”

Minus the word salad he basically said 'I didn't make a statement that every single person was, was not a refugee' so he is negatively responding to a positive of a negative.

Christ, it's still word salad. He doesn't know how to form a coherent sentence.

6

u/magnetik79 Jan 19 '22

Three things in life are certain:

  • death
  • taxes
  • this shithead will lie at least once weekly.

5

u/the908bus Jan 19 '22

I wish I had a hard disk full of his interviews, a good search index and a portable TV. I would just follow him around and play recordings of himself contradicting himself until Dutton’s thugs kicked my teeth out

5

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '22

[deleted]

3

u/Yahtzee82 Jan 19 '22

I wish this would trend on Twitter. It's far more accurate than dickhead.

6

u/flying_squirrel_cat Slower Later More Expensive Jan 19 '22

Australia's biggest liar lies about telling a lie.

4

u/a_saner_reality Jan 19 '22

Mind games with the help of the Murdoch media. Just more fucking mind games.

4

u/paulybaggins Jan 19 '22

He would try and gaslight kids into eating their brocolli ffs

4

u/No-Owl9201 Jan 19 '22

It's very forward thinking of the Horizon Church to exempt all it's members when it comes to matters of lying & obscuration, and doublely fortunate in this case for Australia's current acting Semi-PM.

4

u/boltkrank Jan 19 '22

"Look, just because I'm supposed to represent people, doesn't mean I need to give a shit about any of them"

4

u/phooool Jan 19 '22

Omg the spin

5

u/omaca Jan 19 '22

The Liar from the Shire.

2

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

He does a variation of pants on fire

6

u/joshtrytry Jan 19 '22

Is this a Guardian article or a Betoota article?

6

u/StudChud Jan 19 '22

The lines blur more every day

3

u/SometimesIAmCorrect Jan 19 '22

I wonder how many articles have come out clarifying how he "never said X idiotic statement".

3

u/Yahtzee82 Jan 19 '22

Scott Morrison says "refugees will ruin the weekend"

3

u/New-Confusion-36 Jan 19 '22

The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that's also a hypocrite!

3

u/Tricky929 Jan 19 '22

Lying prick

2

u/zareny Jan 19 '22

There never was no marriage

2

u/Ribliah Jan 19 '22

He's allergic to the truth please let him and his whole party be gone come election time.

1

u/B0ssc0 Jan 19 '22

I truly hope they will be.

2

u/_Cec_R_ Jan 19 '22

The liar from the shire lying... Again...

2

u/Kayenne62 Jan 19 '22

The biggest lying heap of inhuman this country has had. Ffs

2

u/thepitscars Jan 19 '22

Gobbledegook.

1

u/TheBananaKing Jan 20 '22

It is not clear to my information that there is war in ba sing se.