The memes have been flooding in ever since the first hints of Morrison’s covert appointments to the ministries of Health, Treasury, Home Affairs, Resources and Finance were revealed. And, much like the actual floods, they have not stopped.
But the torrent reached a critical mass, or perhaps the beginning of the end, when the opposition backbencher joined in tonight.┬а
The Member for Cook’s official Facebook page went on a commenting spree, replying to more than a dozen memes from Aussie companies welcoming him to their team.
(9News obviously can’t rule out the possibility there were many more, secret, joke replies that will only be revealed at a later date.)
“It’s been fun joining in on all the memes. But there are so many now I can’t keep up,” Morrison said, in a post accompanying his own attempt.
“As Aussies we can always have a chuckle at ourselves. Have a good evening.
The Sydney comedians were quick to welcome a new member, so long as they were appointed “minister of Australian Tax Office”.
Elsewhere, the former PM jollily responded to Photoshopped posts showing him tiling, concreting, moving a piano and even modelling a new range of fetching women’s sun shirts.
“A great opportunity for me to get the skills ready for Bathurst,” Morrison told Southport Budget Tyres & Auto.
He told Inside The Roof Tilers’ Mind he was “happy to do his bit” but requested a safety harness and, in reply to an Eazy-Crete Pty Ltd meme of him cutting rebar ready to pour a slab, said “I actually wish I had one of those”.
But there is one job the famous Cronulla fan refuses to accept, even in jest: that of Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
“Don’t mind this one either,” he said.┬а
“But that job is definitely filled and Fitzy is doing an awesome job. UpUpCronulla.”
Some commenters praised Morrison’s tongue in cheek reaction, thanking him for a “few good chuckles” but others were not so complimentary.
“You think the running of this country is a joke,” one user wrote.
“Have some humility and say you made a mistake. We don’t need US-style gloating about how badly you behaved in office.”
Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull described Morrison’s actions as “sinister stuff”, fellow ex-PM John Howard said “I don’t think he should have done that”, and Opposition Leader Dutton said his former boss “made the wrong call”.
But they didn’t join calls for him to resign.
Morrison held an hour-long press conference yesterday to defend his actions, saying “extraordinary times” justified the response and that he would have only used the powers in an emergency.
The most bizarre post-political jobs
The one exception was his blocking of a gas project off the NSW coast, which was unpopular in seats the Coalition eventually lost to Teal independents and which the then-Resources Minister Keith Pitt favoured.
Morrison said he “sought to be the decision maker” because the project was so important, and didn’t regret his decision.
