RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.

This week Federal MP’s returned to Canberra for the first time since the summer break.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison tried to use the opportunity to craft a narrative about the economic bounceback, and the pending rollout of the vaccine.

But his strategy was blown off course after one of his backbenchers came under heavy criticism for promoting misinformation about Covid-19.

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno on the problems rogue Liberal MPs are making for the Prime Minister, and why it took him so long to reign them in.

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RUBY:

Paul, hello, how are you?

PAUL:

Hi there, Ruby, good to see you again after the break.

RUBY:

Likewise. How's it all going in Canberra? First week back for parliament.

PAUL:

Yes, well, parliament came back and well, what an exciting week it was. We even had to biffo in the corridors of power when Labor's Tanya Plibersek had a confrontation with the maverick liberal Craig Kelly. It created quite a stir and well, it's nothing like a bit of frisson to get the blood running in these times of Covid.

RUBY:

I do want to talk about that. But let's go back to the start of the week first, Paul, because on Monday, the prime minister addressed the National Press Club in Canberra and he talked about the economy and also about the latest plan for the vaccine rollout. So what did he tell us?

Archival Tape -- Presenter

“Everyone, please welcome The Prime Minister.”

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“Thank you very much, Laura, and to everybody here today…”

PAUL:

Well, Ruby, at the Press Club, the prime minister lauded the fact that the economy and jobs come back, as he called it, is underway.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“Today Australia stands out across the world in response to the pandemic…”

PAUL:

But he acknowledged there is a cloud over it all, that the pandemic was still raging.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“The virus hasn't gone anywhere. Indeed, it's morphing into new and more virulent strains, so we must remain vigilant.”

PAUL:

Morrison outlined a massive outlay to purchase over 140 million doses of vaccine. Enough, he said, to cover the Australian population several times over.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“Now, this will be one of the largest logistics exercises ever seen in Australia.”

PAUL:

The vaccine rollout will begin in a few weeks time, and all Australians will have the opportunity to be inoculated by October. Of course, it presumes that the current overwhelming public support for vaccination found in the latest opinion polls is not undermined. Public trust will be key to the rollouts, after all.

And in fact, Ruby, the very first question Morrison was asked at the Press Club went exactly to that point.

Archival Tape -- Reporter

“But aren't we wasting taxpayers money if at the same time you don't reign in your own government MPs who are spreading disinformation about both the virus and the vaccines on social media?”

PAUL:

Morrison was asked if he was wasting taxpayers’ money spending 24 million dollars to build public confidence on vaccine safety, while at the same time he wasn’t reining in his own MPs who are spreading disinformation on social media. And in particular, Sydney backbencher Craig Kelly. Scott Morrison was both flippant about Kelly and supportive of him.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“Don't go to Facebook to find out about the vaccine. Go to official government websites. Wanna understand about vaccines? Go and talk to Brendan Murphy over there. That's who I talk to.”

PAUL:

He said the Sydney MP was a great local member, but not someone qualified to hand out advice on the vaccine. As Morrison put it...

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison-

“He's not my doctor and he's not yours. But he does a great job in Hughes!”

RUBY:

Kelly is clearly not anyone's doctor, but what is the medical advice that he's been giving?

PAUL:

Well, Kelly's been sharing unproven remedies for Covid-19 like Hydroxychloroquine on his extremely popular Facebook page for months now. He's criticised the government's health experts. He's even accused them of not keeping up with the latest development. And he's ignored the explanations they've given to him in writing.

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“We’ve got medical experts from all around the world running studies and trials that show, unambiguously, that the effect of Hydroxychloroquine, when taken early and when taken with zinc, reduces - and we’re not just talking about slight illnesses - reduces deaths, Alan, of up to 63 percent! There are now 20 early treatment studies, and out of all 20-...so, it’s 100 percent of the studies show it’s effective, and yet you’ve got these medical bureaucrats going no no no there’s no evidence, there’s no evidence!"

PAUL:

He’s shared anti vaccine conspiracy theories. He said the face mask for teenagers are child abuse, and this week he probably topped it all off when he did a podcast with the notorious anti-vaxxer, Pete Evans.

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“And there’s dozens of these studies that show that if you are given a Hydroxychloroquine, combined with Zinc and an antibiotic, early, you can have perhaps an 80 percent reduction in hospitalisation and deaths…”

PAUL:

And he's been facing growing criticism for it all along.

RUBY:

Right. And the prime minister, Scott Morrison, is also starting to feel some heat on this. It seems unlikely that his fairly benign response at the Press Club will have resolved this issue, Paul.

PAUL:

Well, that's exactly right. And neither the media nor the opposition were so easily dismissed. They ensured that Kelly's campaign for covid treatments rejected by Australia's top health authorities and his questioning of the vaccine safety escalated to an embarrassment for Morrison and a huge distraction from the government's preferred agenda.

The situation Ruby became almost farcical when Kelly did a series of interviews in the mainstream media the next day - that is on Tuesday - claiming he had Morrison's support, and that he'd never been disciplined.

Archival Tape -- Reporter:

“By late yesterday Mr Kelly insisted the Prime Minister had not told him to reign it in.”

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“No, and firstly I don’t think there’s anything that needs to be reigned in-...
Ah look the Prime Minister’s been very supportive.”

Archival Tape -- Reporter:

“Not anymore - his phone ringing consistently during our interview, the PM trying to warn him if asked about his views…”

PAUL:

The Prime Minister's office by late Tuesday went into damage control, briefing out that Morrison had made it clear to Kelly he was unhappy. The backbencher was pushing unofficial medical remedies.
But the very next morning, Kelly made it pretty clear he wasn't all that concerned about the PM's apparent dressing down.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Paul, Scott Morrison has been under pressure to rein in backbencher Craig Kelly, who's been spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines for a while now. The prime minister's office told journalists that he had tried to reign in Kelly. So did it work?

PAUL:

Well, as I say, Ruby Kelly was unabashed. On Wednesday morning, he continued his round of media interviews, even interrupting a corridor press conference being held by Labor's former health minister, Tanya Plibersek.

RUBY:

Right, and this is the biffo you were talking about earlier?

PAUL:

Well that’s exactly right.

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“You making any big announcements?”

Archival Tape -- Tanya Plibersek

“Yeah I’m actually telling them that the PM needs to stop you spreading these crazy conspiracy theories.”

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“Did you hear about Professor Clancy? You've got to listen to our most senior-...our most senior immunologist, Tanya…”

PAUL:

Kelly told Plibersek to take notice of one immunologist’s dissenting view on two of the contentious remedies he was pushing. She asked him if he disagreed with his prime minister and accused him of putting the lives of people at risk who refused the vaccine because she said of these crazy conspiracy theories, you're spreading.

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“The prime minister is 100 percent right-”

Archival Tape -- Tanya Plibersek

“He agrees with you? Scott Morrison agrees with you, does he Craig?”

Archival Tape -- Craig Kelly

“I’m not gonna-...my prime minister will speak for himself. Listen to the words of our most senior immunologist…”

PAUL:

The confrontation received instant wide coverage on mainstream radio and TV and social media…

Archival Tape -- Reporter

“Craig Kelly’s been making some media appearances - he clashed with a senior Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek today, as he was coming out the Sky News studios here in parliament…”

PAUL:

...and it forced the prime minister to stop his pussyfooting around with Kelly.

RUBY:

OK, so what did he do this time?

PAUL:

Well, later on Wednesday, the prime minister came into the parliament and he said he'd made his position clear to Craig Kelly.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“It is true that views expressed by the Member for Hughes do not align with my views or the views of the advice that has been provided to me by the chief medical officer.”

PAUL:

Earlier today, the member for Hughes and I, Morrison, went on to discuss these matters, and I made it very clear that was the view of me as prime minister...

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison

“...and of course, the views of the government. Vaccination is critical.”

PAUL:

And Ruby, we know this time there was a real reprimand because Kelly was forced to release a statement. But he didn't put that statement on his Facebook page, nor did he take off the Facebook page any of the claims and conspiracy theories that he'd got into trouble for.

In the statement - the vetted statement - Kelly said he agreed to support the government's vaccine rollout, which has been endorsed by the medical experts.

RUBY:

So it seems like the prime minister has finally decided to use his authority to pull Craig Kelly into line. But what do you think took him so long?

PAUL:

Well, I think the most benign explanation is that the prime minister didn't want to amplify, didn't want to give more oxygen to Kelly's ridiculous views.

But you have to take into account also that Kelly plays a useful role in signalling to right wing voters the more extreme right wing voters and those who are flirting with Pauline Hanson and One Nation, well, they can stay in the liberal tent - they don't have to leave and vote for someone else. And also, Morrison stepped in before the last election to save Kelly’s political hide. So maybe he felt a certain attachment to him or loyalty to him.

RUBY:

Paul, while Scott Morrison has been sucked into the Craig Kelly story, there are bigger things happening: the vaccine rollout, for example, and the economy still being in recovery mode. So what are the consequences of the prime minister having to spend all this time dealing with a fringe backbencher?

PAUL:

Well, that's a very good question, Ruby. Morrison took weeks longer than it was necessary to pull Kelly into line, especially given the prime minister is well aware of the fragility of the economic recovery. It's a fragility spelled out also by the Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, in his statement this week when the board kept interest rates at historically low levels at crisis levels. The RBA, though, doesn't see any significant improvements until 2024, especially in wages growth. Even then, Governor Lowe says the recovery remains dependent on the health situation and on significant fiscal and monetary support.

Now, look, there's no doubt the monetary support is significant, coming from the banks initiatives, the historic low interest rates, and the creation of 100 million dollars to buy government debt through a new bond buyback. But on the fiscal side, the government's decision to begin pulling back support is highly problematic and based on heroic assumptions, according to a number of economists of consumer behaviour.

Morrison's return to conservative orthodoxy with his ‘you can't run the Australian economy on taxpayers money forever’, well, it may not be shared by the millions who will see their incomes shrink when JobKeeper ends, JobSeeker is cut and wages continue to stagnate.

And Ruby, with the expectation of an election sometime this year, the prime minister really can't risk voter anger, swamping any gratitude they may have that the pandemic has been handled better than elsewhere.

RUBY:

Paul, thanks for your time today. It's great speaking to you again.

PAUL:

Thanks, Ruby. Good to have the old team back together again.

RUBY:

You can read Paul Bongiorno’s column in The Saturday Paper tomorrow.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

A bushfire north-east of Perth has destroyed more than 80 properties, as WA’s Premier Mark McGowan warned the threat was far from over.

More than 10 thousand hectares of land have been burnt and the perimeter of the blaze is over 130 kilometres. Hundreds of homes have been evacuated.

And the Victorian government is adamant the Australian Open will go ahead as scheduled next week, despite the state’s first positive case of Covid-19 in a month being linked to a tennis hotel quarantine site.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper. It’s produced by Ruby Schwartz, Elle Marsh, Atticus Bastow, Michelle Macklem, and Cinnamon Nippard.

Brian Campeau mixes the show. Our editor is Osman Faruqi. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.
Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

New episodes of 7am are released every weekday morning. Subscribe in your favourite podcast app, to make sure you don’t miss out.

I’m Ruby Jones, see ya next week.