May 4, 20225 min read

Scott Morrison's Alleged Lies

Updated: Jul 17, 2022

The friendlyjordies team has compiled and reviewed several instances of Prime Minister Scott Morrison allegedly lying.

Alleged Lie #1: Scott Morrison Labelled Bill Shorten's and Labor's 2019 Electric Vehicle Policy a "War on the Weekend"

During the 2019 election campaign, in an interview on 2GB radio on April 5th, Mr. Morrison criticised Labor's electric vehicle plan, questioning how drivers would charge their vehicles:

"Are you going to run the extension cord down from your fourth-floor window?...What about all these charging stations? How much is that going to cost?”"

At a later press conference in the same week, despite stating that electric vehicles “have a role to play increasingly in the vehicle fleet of Australia over the next decade” and that he had "no problem" with them, Mr. Morrison also went on to state, with reference to electric cars:

"It’s not going to tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family...Bill Shorten wants to end the weekend, when it comes to his policy on electric vehicles, where you’ve got Australians who love being out there in their four-wheel drives. He wants to say ‘see ya later’ to the SUV when it comes to the choices of Australians.”

A day later, he then described Labor's electric vehicle policy as "a war on the weekend, when it comes to the vehicle you drive and the vehicle you want to choose"

Shadow Climate Minister Labels Scott Morrison's Comments on Electric Vehicles and Labor's Electric Vehicle Policies as "lies"

In November 2021, Scott Morrison was interviewed on Channel 7's Sunrise where he claimed that Labor's 2019 electric vehicle policy would have "put up the cost of fuel to try to force people to switch." Sunrise host, Natalie Barr, then responded to Mr. Morrison's comments, noting that the Labor party "weren't forcing people were they? It wasn't a mandate at the last election that they were introducing, it was a non-binding target of 50%. Wasn't that the same as yours?" Mr. Morrison then disagreed, suggesting that Labor was going to increase the price of fuel.

Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, responded to Mr. Morrison's recent statements:

“This is a prime minister who spent years ridiculing electric vehicles, saying it would end the weekend, saying it would increase prices....He's been on television this morning making these mad claims, saying that the electric vehicles policy that we took to the last election somehow had something to do with fuel prices."

Labor's Shadow Climate Minister, Chris Bowen, claimed Mr. Morrison was lying about Labor's electric vehicle policy, noting in a tweet that Mr. Morrison didn't make such claims during the 2019 election campaign:

"Not even in 2019 election campaign did the LNP claim Labor policy would put up petrol prices. But Morrison is dishonestly saying it now."

Alleged Lie #2: Scott Morrison Announces Australia at "top of the queue" for Delivery of Vaccines

In August of 2020, Mr. Morrison stated that:

"Australians will be among the first in the world to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, if it proves successful, through an agreement between the Australian Government and UK-based drug company AstraZeneca.”

At the time, no agreement had been arranged.

In September of 2020, Mr. Morrison announced that Australia was at the “top of the queue” for vaccine delivery. Australia's vaccine roll-out, however, did not begin until February 2021, with 200 million vaccines having already been delivered worldwide by this point. Both the United States and United Kingdom had begun their vaccinations a month prior to Australia, with half of all adults in the UK receiving their first vaccination before any had begun in Australia.

In April 2021, Mr. Morrison defended the progress of the vaccine roll-out, blaming the European Union for blocking Australia's supply of vaccines, stating: "That's just a simple fact. That's not a dispute. It's not a conflict. It's not an argument. It's not a clash. It's just as simple fact."

3.8 Million doses of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine were ordered in September of 2020 from Europe. This order was cut to 1.2 million doses in January 2021, then to 500,000 doses in February of 2021 and then cut again to only 250,000 doses in March of 2021. This final order was allegedly blocked by the EU. The EU Commissioner Chief Spokesperson, Eric Mamer, denied this blocking of exports "to Australia or to any other country for that matter."

On July 9th, 2021, Mr. Morrison claimed that Australia was leading the world in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates. By this date, Australia wasn't even within the top 30 countries worldwide for partially vaccinated rates, with only roughly 17% of the population receiving its first dose. For fully vaccinated, Australia's vaccination rates were not even within the top 100 countries, sitting below the world average for that date (8.74% versus 9.18%)

Alleged Lie #3: Scott Morrison's Office Denies Holiday in Hawaii

In December of 2019, during the Black Summer Bushfires, Mr. Morrison took a family holiday to Hawaii. On Monday December 16th, the Australian Financial Review reported that Mr. Morrison was on leave for a family holiday. On the same day, the Prime Minister's office responded to questions as to where Mr. Morrison was travelling, stating that claims he was holidaying in Hawaii was "wrong" and that his current location was "not a story".

On Thursday, December 19th, despite the Prime Minister's office continuing to deny claims that Mr. Morrison was in Hawaii, an Australian tourist shared a photograph of themselves with Mr. Morrison, validating claims that he was indeed in Hawaii.

Scott Morrison Claims he Texted Anthony Albanese Regarding his Hawaii Holiday

In November 2021, the issue of Mr. Morrison's holiday in Hawaii was raised in parliament. Labor MP Fiona Phillips asked Mr. Morrison why his office had "told journalists he was not on holiday in Hawaii...when it wasn't true?"

Mr. Morrison responded claiming that he had texted opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, about his plans and where he was going:

“I can only speak to what I have said. As the leader of the opposition will know because I texted him from the plane when I was going on that leave, and told him where I was going, and he was fully aware of where I was travelling with my family."

Mr. Albanese denied this claim:

“That is not true. On the 15th of December 2019 at 9.44pm the prime minister did text me saying he was going on leave. He did not tell me where he was going. He said he was going with his family....On the Friday he disclosed it in an interview with 2GB that he had texted me and that was the first time that that became public. But at no stage did he tell me where he was going.”

Mr. Morrison later corrected his statements:

“I want to confirm what the leader of the opposition said that in that text I did not tell him the destination of where I was going on leave with my family. I simply communicated to him that I was taking leave. When I was referring to he knew where I was going and was fully aware I was travelling with my family, what I meant was, that we were going on leave together.