After a political dust-up over energy policy and the cutting of greenhouse gas emissions that dealt a critical blow to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, he was forced to step down on Friday and was replaced by Scott Morrison, the country’s treasurer.
“If you have a go in this country you will get a go. There is a fair go for those who have a go,” Morrison told reporters on Friday. But “having a go” (or a shot) is not something he has granted immigrants.
Hailing from the right flank of the Liberal Party, which is more conservative than liberal in almost every way, Morrison describes himself as “netball dad” (kind of like the Australian equivalent of a soccer mom, we presume), but what he’s mostly known for is being the enforcer of previous Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s extremely harsh anti-immigration policies.
Even before he was the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection under Abbott (which, among other things, paid human traffickers to turn away boats carrying migrants and refugees and detained thousands in offshore prison-like facilities on Manus and Nauru islands), Morrison made a reputation for himself for being anti-immigrant.
After a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank off Christmas Island in 2010, the Australian government paid for several families to attend the funerals of their loved ones. Morrison felt this was a waste of money and that the families should have paid for their own ways.
He called for police to monitor migrants, requiring them to conform to “behaviour protocols.”
His handling of immigration matters, including ensuring the well-being of migrant and refugee children, was slammed by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
In fact, the Australian model for dealing with the relatively small number of irregular migrants who tried to enter the country was seen as abhorrent by rights groups around the world, as well as the United Nations.
While Morrison’s stance on immigration and his love of coal power (he once famously took a chunk of coal into parliament and asked fellow legislators not to fear it) are in line with President Donald Trump’s, his views on same-sex marriage line up perfectly with those of Vice President Mike Pence.
Against same-sex marriage, he tried, unsuccessfully, to push through a “religious freedom” amendment to the law allowing same-sex marriage that would grant parents the right to pull their children out of classes that discussed it. His amendment failed and he ultimately abstained from the vote.
His predecessor, Turnbull, had a contentious relationship with Trump that started with that infamous phone call wherein Turnbull — who is far from pro-immigrant — couldn’t seem to make Trump understand that the migrants detained and isolated on Manus and Nauru were not, in fact, terrorists nor did they pose any danger to society.
The two also differed on gun control, and, after meeting with Trump, Turnbull mocked him at an Australian press dinner.
“The Donald and I are winning, and winning in the polls,” said Turnbull, “not the fake polls. They’re the ones we’re not winning in.”