A very reasonable question which prime ministers have been historically able – indeed, enthusiastic! – to answer is “why are you prime minister rather than literally anyone else?”
And yet current PM Scott Morrison is unable to give a straight answer to that question after three weeks, almost as though he doesn’t actually have a case to make.
It’s been the main topic of discussion in Question Time since Monday, it’s been the number one question in just about all of his interviews, and it was still tripping him up in his first prime ministerial interview with Leigh Sales on Tuesday night’s 7.30.
New Prime Minister, @ScottMorrisonMP, explains why the leadership change was necessary. #abc730 #auspol pic.twitter.com/B4rvf9we5l
— abc730 (@abc730) September 11, 2018
Thus far ScoMo’s basic approach has been to insist that leadership is a gift of the parliamentary party and that he stepped up when the hour demanded, which is as useful as being asked how John F Kennedy was murdered and being told that bullets are hard metal objects which displace flesh when propelled at speed.
After all, no-one accidentally falls over a chair and finds themselves leader of the country. But more importantly, no leader wins hearts and minds by suggesting that they’re in the top job by accident rather than because it was a compellingly good idea.
The problem is compounded by the fact that Morrison has yet to actually put forward any policies other than ones he inherited from Turnbull, meaning that parliament has literally nothing else to talk about beyond “why are you here, again? Also, what’s with the au pairs?”
Only if you used to work with Peter Dutton, Homer.
The Guardian‘s Katharine Murphy put it beautifully, pointing out that all the previous challengers could articulate why they were seeking to replace sitting PMs. Julia Gillard displaced Kevin Rudd because “a good government has lost its way.” Rudd challenged Gillard because “I simply do not have it in my nature to stand idly by and to allow an Abbott government to come to power in this country by default.” And Turnbull ran against Tony Abbott because Abbott had lost 30 Newspolls and lacked economic leadership.
As Murphy puts it, “These are all reasons. They might be boneheaded reasons, but they are reasons.”
Morrison has yet to give a reason why he is a better choice than Turnbull, or for that matter Peter Dutton. And let’s be honest, with things standing as they are it’s not like that’s a hard case to make. Not that deputy leader Josh Frydenburg did any better a job on last Sunday’s Insiders.
Why was @TurnbullMalcolm sacked, @barriecassidy asks @JoshFrydenberg #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/5VyNTu8Rhi
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) September 9, 2018
And the fact is that until Morrison and Frydenberg can give a plausible sounding explanation as to why Malcolm Turnbull lost the support of the party and how he’s better equipped to do the job, the public, the media and the opposition are all going to keep on asking “so, why are you here, exactly?”
As of press time, we’re still waiting.