Scott Morrison accused of ‘passing the buck’ over aged care crisis
Опубликованно 24.08.2020 22:40
The Prime Minister sparked an online backlash today after he was asked during a morning TV interview if “the buck stops with you as Prime Minister for the litany of aged care failures?”.
Instead of confirming it does, Mr Morrison asserted there were “shared responsibilities” in relation to aged care prompting a furious backlash on social media.
“Well, there are shared responsibilities for, well public health is a matter for the Victorian government, and the Federal Government regulates aged care,’’ he replied.
ABC Breakfast News presenter Michael Rowland then interrupted saying, “It’s a federal responsibility. It is fundamentally a federal responsibility.”
But the Prime Minister again asserted that was not the case in practice.
“We regulate aged care, but when there is a public health pandemic, then public health, which, whether it gets into aged care, shopping centres, schools or anywhere else, then they are things that are matters for Victoria,’’ he said.
“So I don’t think that it is as binary as you suggest.”
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.@mjrowland68: Does the buck stop with you as Prime Minister for the litany of aged care failures?@ScottMorrisonMP: We regulate aged care, but when there is a public health pandemic ... then they are things that are managed from Victoria. pic.twitter.com/3yUUGRPjHC— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) August 18, 2020
The remarks prompted a swift response on social media with the PM’s critics comparing the remarks to the bushfire crisis when Mr Morrison was criticised for going on holidays in Hawaii and then told a radio broadcaster: “I don’t hold a hose mate.”
A number of social media users pointed to the comments with posts including “I don’t hold a thermometer, mate,” and “I don’t hold a bedpan, mate.”
I don’t hold a bedpan mate.— Matt Burke (@matttburke) August 18, 2020
He doesn't hold a thermometer mate— Andrew Stephens (@steveosaurusrx) August 18, 2020
Standard reply from @ScottMorrisonMP pic.twitter.com/HmvxEBsBrc— Debbie Gill (@DebG710) August 18, 2020
Passing the buck is the last thing we need right now. pic.twitter.com/cHv0z9tGb5— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) August 18, 2020
It follows claims in the Royal Commission into Aged Care that Australia has one of the worst records in the world with regard to COVID-19 and aged care, a claim that the Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy has flatly rejected as untrue.
During a press conference several hours later, Mr Morrison was probed again about the remarks with a reporter asking: “Is there an element here of you being happy to own the successes when it comes to dealing with the pandemic but not the failures?”
“I think that’s an unkind assessment,’’ he responded.
“Doesn’t bear out the facts. There is a combination of challenges we have with the pandemic. There is a public health issue and there is a specific abled care issue and that’s where responsibilities merge. And when have you a community outbreak like we’ve had in Victoria, that’s where those responsibilities do overlap.”
Mr Morrison again noted that it was the “community outbreak” in Victoria that was triggering the issues in aged care.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison pictured at the AstraZeneca laboratories in Macquarie Park, was asked why masks were not made mandatory in Victoria’s aged care homes until mid-July. Picture: Nick Moir - Pool/Getty Images
“Certainly, we have had to lead the response in responding to the community outbreak in Victoria,’’ he said.
“It’s a combined effort of Victorian and Commonwealth officials. We understand our responsibilities and we will be responsible for those, but when you have a community pandemic, the virus will find its way into many places.
“It can find its way into shopping centres. It can find its way into workplaces. It can find its way potentially into schools but thankfully that hasn’t been a significant issue here in Australia and many other places and so it’s the overlapping of public health responsibilities which sit with states and federal aged care regulation responsibilities sit with the Federal Government so, yes, it is a complex set of responsibilities and they are shared and that’s why we’re working together.”
Mr Morrison was also asked why masks were not mandatory in Victorian aged care homes until the middle of July.
“Well, these were clinical decisions taken on clinical advice. And what we’ve consistently done all through this pandemic has been following that advice. I think that that is the best approach to follow,’’ he said.
“I keep stressing — working together, not against each other, is the way we manage these impacts. And so all I said this morning, I think, to take a very binary approach to this. I think is overly simplistic and doesn’t let Australians know the complexity of responsibilities that are here.”
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