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Scott Morrison ‘amused’ by secret ministry memes but Anthony Albanese says it’s no joke

20 Aug 2022 By theguardian

Former prime minister Scott Morrison spent much of Thursday night making his own memes or commenting on Facebook jokes about his five secret ministry positions - but his successor as prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says his actions "aren't a laughing matter".

Morrison, who has resisted calls for his resignation after being accused of misleading his colleagues and the parliament, began interacting with Facebook jokes about his extra portfolio areas on Thursday afternoon, shortly after making a belated apology to his colleague Karen Andrews for not informing her he had been sworn in to administer her home affairs portfolio.

Jefford Tree Services, a Melbourne business, made a joke on social media that Morrison had "just added Lead Climbing Arborist to his portfolio and started working for us without telling anyone". It tagged Morrison's official Facebook page in an edited image of a tree lopper with Morrison's face pasted on top.

Morrison later responded from his page, commenting: "What time do you need me for my first shift."

Morrison later interacted with dozens more similar jokes through the afternoon and evening, from businesses that portrayed him in jobs including a forklift driver, caravan salesman, chef, welder, football umpire and piano removalist.

On one post by a mechanic, which claimed Morrison had taken a job as a 'jack of all trades', Morrison responded: "have a lot of experience in that gig."

On a post by a smallgoods company, he commented: "start me in the curried meats section."

"I'm loving these posts," Morrison commented on another.

Later on Thursday night, he published a post on his own official Facebook page to his 788,000 followers, saying he was having "fun joining in on all the memes. But there are so many now I can't keep up."

"As Aussies we can always have a chuckle at ourselves," Morrison wrote, alongside an image he ostensibly created himself, pasting his own face on top of a photo of one member of the Sooshi Mango comedy group.

In a subsequent post, he posted another photo that he appeared to have made with his own face in place of the Cronulla Sharks rugby league coach, Craig Fitzgibbon.

This post has more than 14,000 likes and 2,200 comments, as of time of writing. Many comments were supportive of the former prime minister, including "nice to actually see a bit of our wonderful Aussie humour around" and "absolute legend".

But others were far more critical, with one comment describing Morrison's jokes as "pathetic and shows your clear disregard and disrespect for the Australian people".

"I supported you, what you did isn't transparent and doesn't pass the pub test," said another.

Interviewed on ABC television on Friday morning, Albanese was critical of Morrison's actions.

"I think this undermining of our parliamentary system of government, of the whole Westminster system, and our democratic traditions of accountability, are things that aren't a laughing matter," he said.

"I'm surprised at the response of Mr Morrison to this but, then again, I frankly was shocked by the revelations that he not only was prime minister, but took over responsibility or shared responsibility for five different portfolios as well."

Albanese said he was surprised Morrison had not made a wider apology to voters. The prime minister will receive further advice from the solicitor general on Monday regarding the process that allowed Morrison's covert portfolio appointments and any legal implications.

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