The PM’s apology that was not an apology

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The roar of frustration from Australian households finally reached the courtyards of Parliament House on Wednesday with a volume Scott Morrison could not ignore.

But the Prime Minister did not apologise for the pain. He only conceded it was there.

Scott Morrison did not apologise for the pain Australians were feeling from Omicron. He only conceded it was there.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Morrison made sure his opening remarks to his press conference on Wednesday, broadcast live as usual on ABC TV and Sky News, were about acknowledging the anger in the community over the Omicron wave.

“You’ve seen queues, you’ve seen rising cases, you’ve seen pressures on hospital systems, you’ve seen disruption of supply chains, you’ve seen shortages of tests,” he said.

This came with a message, however, that Australians were not alone in seeing this pain – and that their Prime Minister, by implication, was not at fault.

“You’ve seen all of these in all of these countries all around the world,” he said.

“That is what Omicron has brought. But that is of no comfort to Australians who have had a frustrating and difficult and highly concerning summer, and that is something that we must continue to work together to push through.”

This was not a mea culpa. Labor leader Anthony Albanese says Morrison failed to order enough vaccines in time last year and has just made the same mistake with rapid antigen tests. Morrison did not give a quarter on this charge.

“We accept our share of the responsibility when it comes to providing the tests that we are responsible to provide,” he said. This was important. Even so, he argued that tests were mostly up to the states and territories. He also blamed the states for setting rules that required employers to use rapid antigen tests every day, using up supplies. His sweeping claim was backed by some employer groups but disputed by states and repudiated by the ACTU.

It was also classic blame-shifting, something voters have seen time and again in this pandemic.

The truth is that business leaders were telling the government last August to make rapid antigen tests widely available.

Some test makers urged the government to place orders to manufacture the kits in Australia but said they were turned away.

Morrison offered action on another front by announcing a cut to visa fees to bring students and travellers into the country, a move that could help ease some of the labour shortages. Employers welcomed the changes, so the government can point to practical action at a time of huge stress.

Yet the Prime Minister was on the defensive in a week when the Resolve Political Monitor showed voters had swung strongly against the government and its leader.

He spent the first 21 minutes of the press conference in a monologue on the government’s achievements, anxious to make sure voters knew he was doing things. He even mentioned potential work on forklift rules. Will the broadcasters offer Albanese equal time if he wants to talk at similar length?

At no point in the opening remarks, however, did he explain when pharmacies will see an end to the RAT shortage. Or what he might do to help them end it.

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