As a member of the general public, Nikki Savva comes across as someone with incredible sources within the Liberal Party and ecosystem. So when Bulldozed came out I devoured it. It’s a fascinating read. It’s easier, now, with the benefit of distance, to see the Morrison years as distant and fargone. But this book (which I read fresh, soon after the 2022 election, from memory), captures so much of it -the chaos, the spin, the sense from the press gallery of a leader who prioritised imagery over substance. To her credit, when so many journalists feel a need to ‘both-sides’ an issue, Savva is unequivocal in her conclusions about the Morrison administration. If you’re a political tragic, it’s worth a read.
1 Victory and Damnation
Page 29
Assessing, rightly, that the end could be nigh, that he now had no choice except to delay the election until May, after the budget— although he had sought advice to see if he could extend beyond that by citing Covid— Morrison told colleagues in early 2022: ‘What’s happening here is existential.’
Page 38
Chester told Joyce’s office that Joyce would not be welcome in his electorate during the campaign. He believed Joyce would cost the Nationals votes in every seat south of the Murray. He also told the Nationals’ state director in Victoria, Matt Harris, that Joyce should not visit the state at all during the campaign, and he certainly should not visit his seat of Gippsland.
Page 40
In a desperate, calculated move, he thrust the complex, sensitive issue of transgender athletes and sport into the centre of the election campaign, using a woman with an extensive history of transphobic, offensive material on social media, ignoring the impact it would have on his moderate MPs, including Frydenberg, who were under threat from independents.
Page 40
Deves did something else. She confirmed and exposed the great divide in the Liberal Party between its moderate base and the religious right that Morrison courted and fostered, who contacted MPs and campaign headquarters to insist she be supported. Moderates were also not speaking with one voice— Jason Falinski endorsed her before and during the campaign.
Page 48
With his old finance minister’s hat on, Minchin says: ‘One of the upsides of the campaign was it demonstrated rampant pork- barrelling is not going to save a dying government. ‘You can’t win by throwing money around like Santa Claus.’
Page 49
there were three policies agreed to by Morrison’s Expenditure Review Committee ahead of the budget that might have helped dispel some of that and to set up points of difference with Labor. The first was to expand the cashless debit card; the second, to allow pensioners to work and earn more while retaining their pension; and the third, to allow people to access their superannuation for housing. There was a fourth if you included Robert’s skills package.
Page 50
Among his detractors, and there were plenty, Morrison was regarded as the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon. After news of his secret ministries emerged, they revised that to say he was worse than McMahon. Worse even than Tony Abbott, who lasted a scant two years in the job, whose chief accomplishments were that he destroyed Julia Gillard and then himself, and then, aided and abetted by Dutton and Morrison, destroyed Turnbull.
2 Straight to Hawaii
Page 54
Andrew Carswell, one of his closest advisers, who regrets he did not try to talk his boss out of going to Hawaii, and wishes he had not lied to journalists about where he had gone. With the benefit of hindsight, Morrison’s chief of staff, John Kunkel, says of course it was a bad decision for Morrison to go to Hawaii, but failing to advise him not to go is not at the top of his list of regrets.
Page 55
Word seeped out he was in Honolulu while the bushfires were engulfing the country, thanks to the detective work of Greens MP David Shoebridge, who had followed a tip- off.
Page 56
Hawke said. ‘When you become prime minister, the sacrifices are, you have to give up your life.’
Page 61
That night, after Shoebridge’s tweet appeared, Samantha Maiden posted her first story for The New Daily, quoting Morrison’s office as saying it was ‘wrong’ to say he was in Hawaii. His office also denied it to other journalists, then cited ‘national security’ as a reason for not divulging his whereabouts.
Page 64
‘He should have been back here,’ Andrews said. ‘The optics were awful.’ She agreed that everyone deserved a holiday but added: ‘If you are in the top job, you are giving up your personal life.’
5 Clusterf..k Alert
Page 125
Morrison had tried to recruit a number of celebrity candidates— the former deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, and Erin Molan, daughter of Jim, a former TV sports presenter, and now a Sky After Dark host. Both refused.
6 Jenny Says
Page 138
The photo was taken on the phone of an ABC journalist by a public servant said to have a deep interest in matters of national security. He had just been talking to the journalist about the recently departed Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who had been forced to quit over dodgy Chinese connections, when he spotted Porter with the woman. Concerned by what he believed to be inappropriate behaviour by Porter, and to show how easily people can be caught in potentially compromising situations, the public servant grabbed the journalist’s smartphone and took a photo.
7 I Am the Prime Minister (and you are a fuckwit)
Page 154
Repeated attempts were made by the New South Wales state director, Chris Stone, directly to Morrison or to his office, to appoint someone other than Hawke to sit on the vetting body, the Nominations Review Committee. Previously, Morrison had allowed Paul Fletcher to act on his behalf. Morrison refused to nominate someone other than Hawke. Party rules decree that all four members of the NRC or their representatives must attend— there has to be a full complement, not just a simple quorum— which include the prime minister or his delegate. It was always open to Morrison to allow someone else to attend on his behalf if Hawke was indeed too busy.
Page 158
He wore everyone down, and won the internal battles. Then he lost the war.
8 Listen to the Voices of the Women
Page 176
McGowan organised another Zoom meeting in August 2022 called ‘Next Steps’. There were 450 people who registered, from 103 electorates around the country. The enthusiasm was unabated. All six new independents took part, and Holmes à Court also dialled in.
10 Rebels with Causes
Page 196
Bragg’s threat was known at the time, and on its own was enough to kill the bill; however, not so well known is that three other Coalition senators were prepared to cross the floor with him. They were Perin Davey, who was voted in as deputy National Party leader after the election; Andrew McLachlan, a Liberal from South Australia; and Susan McDonald, from the Liberal National Party of Queensland.
Page 197
Morrison would have known that the Senate vote would have been as humiliating as the one in the House of Representatives. And yet Morrison had stubbornly wanted to keep going, to put the bill up in the Senate in order to overturn the changes made in the House. He was forced to confront reality— that he would have faced further embarrassment— and eventually withdrew the bill. It was a rare thing.
Page 198
On 1 December, with the approval of the prime minister’s office, Sharma, Fiona Martin, Angie Bell, and Katie Allen put out a press release welcoming ‘proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 that will remove the right of religious schools to discriminate against students on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Page 199
Once the implications of what he had done were explained to Morrison, he is said to have responded by saying: ‘I didn’t mean that, that’s not what I had in mind.’ One MP paraphrased his excuse thus: ‘He stuffed up, but couldn’t bring himself to say it.’ Everyone felt dudded. The moderates were furious; the conservatives were incredulous.
Page 203
Throughout the night and morning, while the leadership and staff were exerting pressure to stop the backbenchers crossing the floor, the backbenchers were talking to one another, trying to stay strong. Archer spoke to Martin inside the chamber and in the annex. It was around 3.00 or 4.00 am. Archer said that Martin was stressed, in pieces, but holding firm. Martin kept saying to her: ‘I have to protect kids. I have to do this.’ Martin felt it was not only morally and ethically right to oppose the bill, but that her professional reputation was at stake.
Page 204
At 8.30 am, at the usual leadership meeting with Morrison, Birmingham told the prime minister that the bill would not make it through the Senate with the House’s amendment removed, because Coalition senators would not support it. Morrison persisted for a while, and then realised around mid- morning that he had been defeated.
12 Trans-gressions
Page 230
It was quintessential Morrison. Refuse to admit a mistake, stick with it, and turn it into an even bigger one. Allow a problem to become a crisis before mishandling it.
Page 231
However, she did confirm that Morrison had contacted her. ‘I heard directly from the prime minister to encourage me to keep going,’ she said.
Page 232
Usually in campaigns, candidates have to clear each and every media interview in advance with campaign headquarters. Deves did not clear any of hers, including the most controversial one with Sky in the dying days of the campaign, when she retracted her apology. The first that the campaign team in New South Wales knew of any of her interviews was when they appeared.
Page 234
If re- elected, we will pursue passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill as stand- alone legislation in the next Parliament and will not accept any attempts to make changes to other laws that undermine protections for religious institutions.
Page 235
According to one well- connected Liberal, Deves’ Sky interview recanting her apology was set up deliberately to revive the issue with the prime minister, knowing he would be asked about it at his press conference the next morning. Which he was.
Page 239
The ACL campaigned against Liberals in key seats, including Reid and Bass. As well as fielding complaints from moderate Liberals, campaign headquarters was getting calls from branch members saying that Morrison should go in harder on the transgender issues.
13 The Best of Days, the Worst of Days
Page 276
However, in the run- up to the 2022 budget and the election campaign, the Expenditure Review Committee of cabinet ticked off on the super- for- housing idea. It was decided not to include it in the budget, but to wait until a few weeks later to announce it.
Page 276
The other two options ticked off by the ERC were an expansion of the cashless debit card, and allowing pensioners to earn more while still keeping their pension.
14 JoshKeeper
Page 290
In 2018, Holmes à Court had written an article criticising the Coalition’s energy policies, which Frydenberg as energy minister was running. A day later, Holmes à Court got a message from Kooyong 200, Frydenberg’s fabulously successful fundraising vehicle, saying that his membership was being declined, and that he would be refunded the fees plus a four- figure donation he had made. When Holmes à Court tackled Frydenberg about this subsequently, Frydenberg said that Kooyong 200 was only for ‘unconditional supporters’. Holmes à Court’s money was refunded in April 2018.
Page 290
In March 2019, in the run- up to the election, Holmes à Court was invited by a friend to accompany her to a meet- and- greet with Frydenberg at a local hotel. Frydenberg was working the room. He got to them, it was all hail- fellow- well- met, there was no sign of tension or aggro, and Frydenberg moved on to the next group. But Frydenberg saw their presence as a deliberately provocative act, given that Holmes à Court was supporting Yates. Soon after Frydenberg had moved away from them, Holmes à Court and his friend were approached by the woman hosting the event, and were asked to leave. When they asked why, the woman said it was because Frydenberg had asked that they be told to leave. They did. That night, Holmes à Court pretty much conceived Climate 200, the fundraising vehicle that in 2022 raised $ 13 million, helped win six seats from the Liberals, gutted the party, and thwarted Frydenberg’s political career.
Page 297
While Cathy McGowan is right to say that you don’t have to have the balance of power to have influence, or even to be seen to have influence, Albanese’s challenge is to ensure that the crossbench remains relevant and therefore a continuing threat to the Liberals— but, as with the Greens, not too powerful. He needs to be seen to be consultative, conciliatory, and all the while in control.
15 Google It, Mate
Page 300
The planning and activity that went into delivering three seats in the House of Representatives, making it four in the lower house, including Bandt’s, and another three senators, taking the party’s representation in the upper house to 12, was meticulous and slightly mindboggling. It was a mixture of old- style politics with a clever use of social media, including TikTok and Instagram, featuring characters from The Simpsons, The Lion King, and a giant green Shrek straddling Parliament House.
16 Team Albanese
Page 310
The next day, Clare was at his office at 6.00 am. The usual conference call between the leadership group- plus and campaign headquarters was at 6.15 to go through the news of the day and to work out responses. If the government had announced a policy or briefed one to the papers, they would have sorted Labor’s position by 6.30 so that he or one of the shadow ministers could announce it on breakfast TV. Usually, to close off debate, they would adopt the government’s policy.
Page 311
It didn’t help that Payne was participating, even if in a low- key way, in the election campaign. She had appeared with Morrison in Parramatta, and word had filtered out that she had a fundraiser scheduled precisely when Seselja was sent to the Solomons. Her office denied that, saying she had a ‘business dinner’.
Page 312
Joyce was to Liberal voters what Roundup was to weeds, to which many serving and former Nationals would reply: ‘Not our problem. It’s not our job to win Liberals’ seats for them.’
Page 314
After the 2019 election loss, Wong had had enough. She had decided to quit politics altogether. Then Albanese decided he would run for the leadership. She changed her mind. She came out in support of him, then she had to stay to help him win the leadership, and then win government. ‘I had loyalty to him, and he had always backed me,’ she said.
Page 318
If members of the media wanted to know what Labor would do, he would say: ‘We are not the government.’
Page 320
There was barely a peep when Andrew Charlton was parachuted into Parramatta— except from Liberals who grunted about a wealthy top- of- towner shifting from Bellevue Hill to western Sydney. Charlton was an exceptional candidate, a self- made millionaire with economic expertise— again, the kind of candidate that the Liberals would at one time have killed to recruit. Unless his name was Turnbull.
17 Rocking Boats
Page 332
A senior staffer who was with Morrison that day did not dispute later that the prime minister had liaised with campaign headquarters for the text message to be dispatched. He described it as a ‘quite normal and reasonable’ thing to do in a campaign, especially as the matter was already public.
18 Over and Out
Page 350
Morrison delayed submitting his resignation to the governor- general, and there was concern that the swearing- in would have to be delayed. Fearing that Albanese’s departure for Tokyo would be delayed, Government House had to give Morrison a hurry- up.
19 The Best of Friends
Page 374
A few disillusioned small- l Liberals believe the time has come for the party to be honest and to start calling itself the Conservative Party, with a capital C. Morrison’s solution for the once- broad church that was the Liberal Party was a schism. He told people after the election that the Liberals and Nationals should unite Australia- wide along the lines of the Liberal National Party of Queensland, to create a nationwide conservative party. Then the moderates could form a separate party to appeal to electors in all the old heartland seats. Under this Morrison scenario, they could both then come together to form a Coalition and live together happily ever after. Or not.
Acknowledgements
Page 391
He was the worst prime minister I have covered, and I have been writing about all of them since Gough Whitlam. He simply wasn’t up to the job.
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