Morrison on Two Horses (14/9)

Morrison Rides Two Horses at Once

My suggestion yesterday that Morrison needs to “get over Turnbull” and adopt his own policies was followed by Turnbull’s message from New York to his (?) “friends” (including Morrison) to have Dutton’s legitimacy as an MP checked by the High Court. For obvious reasons, Morrison rejected that but it remains a threat to Dutton because one or two of his “friends” (including former deputy Bishop) could resign and bring on a federal election, which would make it difficult for Dutton (and others) to win his seat in current circumstances.

Meantime, the problem remains of how Morrison is going achieve reductions in power prices when he continues to also support cost-increasing reductions in emissions and their replacements with increased renewable. There is growing support for at least putting on one side the so-called Paris accord reductions in emissions and concentrating on measures to reduce power prices. He is reluctant to take action like that for fear of upsetting those Liberals who supported Turnbull and are still supporters. But it is essential to restoring governance that he persuades the Turnbullites to change their views and tells them that he sees no alternative.

Former Treasury Secretary John Stone has highlighted the need to abandon riding two horses at once in today’s Australian (see Stone on Morrison).

“Morrison now has one foot firmly planted on the Angus Taylor horse (directed at cutting future power prices and keeping the lights on) and his other foot on the Paris Agreement-driven horse, its reins now held by Environment Minister Melissa Price.Doubtless even now the latter is being briefed by all those global warming alarmists in her department about the imperative need, under the Paris Agreement, to focus on cutting our emissions of carbon dioxide (the source of all life on our planet).

Therefore, unless Price is simply to act as a ­cipher (and be rapidly seen as such), these two horses must soon begin to diverge. What then?This hole in Morrison’s stated policies is so obvious that one must ask, why would an intelligent man espouse it?”