Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused of double standards

The Prime Minister used a moment of fiery Question Time to declare Ms. Holgate’s use of taxpayers’ money to buy luxury Cartier watches for employees as “shameful and not on.”

“We are the shareholders of Australia Post on behalf of the Australian people. The manager … has been instructed to step aside, if she doesn’t want to, she can go, “said Morrison, referring to the investigation into the purchase of the four executive watches worth $ 20,000.

His comments were “humiliating” to Ms. Holgate, her lawyer Bryan Belling said in a statement.

The head of the resurgent Australian Postal Service on Monday quit her $ 1.5 million-a-year job without success and forfeited her right to a six-month payout upon departure.

The heat is now shifting to the prime minister, who is being accused of double standards for failing to hold those responsible for a land deal at Sydney Airport that cost taxpayers $ 30 million to account when the country was worth only $ 3 million.

The federal auditor announced in October that the Commonwealth overpaid $ 27 million for a 12-acre property near Badgery’s Creek, which was purchased in 2018 with the aim of building Sydney’s second airport.

The land agreement with the Leppington Triangle has been forwarded to the Australian Federal Police, which are investigating possible “crimes” that might arise from the sale.

An independent auditor was brought in to investigate the terrible mistakes the Prime Minister made when he called for those responsible to be held accountable and for a federal integrity agency – a promise he made and he made two years ago has not complied.

Political commentator Peter van Onselen jokingly wrote Monday night: “I’m sure the Prime Minister will equally insist” that someone resign … “about the taxpayer’s purchase of land for $ 30 million worth $ 3 million”.

“And for the record, as far as I know, I’ve never met or spoken to Christine Holgate,” wrote van Onselen.

“I only make these observations as someone who is totally fed up with bullying.

“Why would anyone want to work in government orbit when the prime minister is willing to toss their weight in disregard for the hypocrisy and the consequences of that? So very contradicting how he applies his “standards”. Boy, you’d have to be desperate to take care of this.

“The fact that Christine Holgate walked away without haggling over a payout and received none while tending to the fate of Australia Post shows that the government has lost a precious CEO. Good luck in dressing someone else … ”

The ABC’s main political correspondent, Laura Tingle, did not hold back and spoke either 7.30Leigh Sales that the Prime Minister’s comments represent a “breathtaking” double standard.

“I think it leaves politics in a really bad place for the government,” she said.

“The double standards here are absolutely breathtaking. All this outrage on the part of the Prime Minister, as the best he can say about a land deal whereby taxpayers paid ex-Liberal Party donors ten times the fair value of a property, was that he was only disappointed when it did Many other scandals have not seen heads roll. ”

Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus said the Morrison administration needs to do more to fight corruption.

“I think Australia Post has a lot bigger issues than just what happened to the CEO,” he said 7.30.

“But you saw her say she was humiliated by the Prime Minister. It is a question of the Prime Minister’s judgment which is being questioned there.

“I think there are much broader issues. She’s not the problem. What we have to look at is the fact that there is a nest of Liberals on the board. What we need to look at is the fact that this government has enacted regulations that have delivered less timely and less reliable postal services to the people of Australia.

“And I think that’s what normal people worry about a lot more than anything else

to do with the CEO. ”

Tony Burke, manager of the opposition business, was vocal about the land business in West Sydney.

“This is worth 10,000 Cartier watches and Scott Morrison is not going to set up a facility to handle it,” said Burke.

Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers went a step further when he discussed the subject with ABC News.

“If Christine Holgate is hunted down by the prime minister for $ 20,000 worth of luxury watches, what does it mean for Scott Morrison’s own minister, who paid $ 30 million to a liberal donor on a $ 3 million property to have.

“What we have asked of the Prime Minister is that he apply to his own ministers the same standards that he applied to Ms. Holgate on that occasion.”