Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will today deliver a valedictory speech to Parliament as a final act before he retires for a new career in a corporate advisory.
Mr. Morrison announced his intentions to leave Canberra in January, going back on a statement that indicated his intentions to stay on with the centre-right Liberal Party as a backbencher after their election defeat to Labor in May 2023.
His departure will trigger an upcoming by-election for the traditionally safe Liberal party seat of Cook in South Sydney, which he has held for over 16 years.
Serving as Australia’s 30th Prime Minister between 2018 and May 2022, Mr. Morrison was quickly promoted to the shadow cabinet not long after entering the House of Representatives in 2007. In 2013, under Tony Abbott’s government, he was given the portfolio for immigration and border protection.
A cabinet reshuffle in 2015 saw Mr. Morrison appointed minister for social services, and was elevated to treasurer after Malcolm Turnbull succeeded Mr. Abbott.
After Peter Dutton mounted an ultimately unsuccessful leadership challenge to Mr. Turnbull in 2018, Mr. Morrison was installed as leader in August of that year.
After what was seen as an upset victory in the 2019 election, Mr. Morrison blotted his public copybook by taking a family holiday in the throes of the 2019-20 bushfire season—one of the worst on record. He also was criticised in many quarters for his handling of accusations of sexual misconduct upon Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House by an employee, Bruce Lehrmann.
Mr. Morrison led Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Allegations that he manipulated his level of oversight by secretly getting the governor general to appoint him to five portfolios, despite there already being ministers in place, came to light in the lead-up to the 2022 election.
He also helmed Australia’s signing of the AUKUS security pact with allies the United Kingdom and the United States to shore up the country’s defence capabilities in the face of an increasingly aggressive Chinese Communist Party.
However, the AUKUS pact was signed only after Mr. Morrison scuppered a $90 billion (US$60 billion) deal to purchase diesel-powered submarines from France, which drew the ire of President Emmanuel Macron who accused Mr. Morrison of practising subterfuge and lying.
The Morrison government was also made a public call for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19. In retaliation, Beijing launched a politically-motivated trade war, slapping punitive trade impediments on $20 billion worth of exports, including timber, barely, cotton, and lobster. The current Albanese Labor government is still working to lift the barriers.
Beijing also enacted a diplomatic freeze with the Morrison government and stopped all official communication.
Mr. Morrison’s coalition was defeated in the 2022 election by Labor, led by incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Reconnecting with Traditional Values
A book, titled “Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness” is scheduled to be published in May this year.
The speech will also raise awareness about the omnipresent threat of authoritarianism from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, with Mr. Morrison urging the public to “stand with Israel as we stand with Ukraine.”
Mr. Morrison’s new role will be with U.S.-based consulting firm American Global Strategies, coupled with an advisory role with DYNE Maritime, an Australian-founded, U.S.-based venture capital company invested in AUKUS, which boasts former U.S. Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo as a consultant.
