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Scott Morrison hits back at “double standards” accusations

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scott Morrison has been accused of using a diplomatic trip to the UK to take a holiday to explore his ancestry.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It was reported on Monday that Mr Morrison’s office spent weeks planning a side trip to explore his convict family roots, despite suggestions from the Prime Minister that it was too dangerous for Australian travellers to head to the UK.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Morrison reportedly travelled to St Keverne, a small village south of Cornwall, where his fifth great-grandfather was born.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The latest claims have come after he made a stop at the Jamaica Inn in Cornwall while he was in the area as an observer to world leaders at the G7 summit.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A photo of Mr Morrison and his staff was shared by the pub on its Facebook page, with hundreds of annoyed Australians commenting on how they weren’t able to travel.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Morrison hit back against the claims on Monday on 2GB and said both visits were purely on the way to and from airports.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I wouldn’t describe it like that at all; we had to land in north of London, as opposed to landing down there in Cornwall, because of the fog we stopped off along the way, we had some lunch and [then] stopped off in another location on the way,” he told the radio station.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“After the G7, on the way to the airport we stopped in another place, which just happens to be where my fifth great-grandfather was from, so I think that was pretty innocent. I think [the visit being labelled as double standards] is massively overstating it.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Morrison has since returned to Australia and is conducting meetings via web conference while self-isolating in The Lodge.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said he hoped Australians would be able to travel by Christmas of 2022, after the target of June 2022 has become less likely due to recent border closures and delays in the vaccine rollout.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I would certainly hope so be it in 2022 and I would hope that we can do it as soon as we safely can,” he said.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: news.com.au</span></em></p>

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Scott Morrison’s awkward moment at G7 summit in France

<p>Scott Morrison was left standing by himself as other world leaders mingled at the G7 Summit in France.</p> <p>In a photo opportunity, the Australian prime minister was spotted standing on his own and fumbling with his phone without getting much acknowledgment from other dignitaries, including US president Donald Trump, British prime minister Boris Johnson and German chancellor Angela Merkel.</p> <p>After the photo of the world leaders was taken, Morrison stayed at the back of the group while the others were joined by their partners.</p> <p>The Project<span> </span>highlighted the moment in a segment on Monday night. “Why is nobody hanging out with our prime minister?” host Pete Helliar asked.</p> <p>“Probably don’t like him,” Steve Price said.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">That feeling when you arrive late to a networking event and everyone’s already deep in conversation.....so you try and look busy with emails 😂 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/scomo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#scomo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/g7?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#g7</a> <a href="https://t.co/40zfhFDviH">pic.twitter.com/40zfhFDviH</a></p> — Michael Macolino (@michaelmacolino) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelmacolino/status/1165923257796587520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Why is our Prime Minister the most socially awkward representative at the G7 Summit? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Auspol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Auspol</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G7Summit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#G7Summit</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Scomo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Scomo</a> <a href="https://t.co/vU1LnVVKdk">pic.twitter.com/vU1LnVVKdk</a></p> — CARINA STATHIS (@carinastathis) <a href="https://twitter.com/carinastathis/status/1166137850800140289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>The rest of Morrison’s visit has been more successful, with the PM making a brief, friendly discussion on cricket with his British counterpart Johnson.</p> <p>Morrison congratulated Johnson on England’s win in the third Ashes test against Australia before moving on to diplomatic matters such as free trade and joint military mission near Iran. “Well, we’ve got two to go, we’re not taking anything for granted,” Johnson said.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">Fantastic to meet with Australian PM <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottMorrisonMP</a> this morning. He seemed in very high spirits, despite the 🏏 yesterday. <a href="https://t.co/PcaB8OFOEf">pic.twitter.com/PcaB8OFOEf</a></p> — Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1165903377819197441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <p>In the 45th G7 summit, the leaders of the seven country members – France, Germany, Britain, Italy, the US, Canada and Japan – came together to discuss global economic, political, social and security issues. Australia joined the summit as an observer alongside India, Chile and South Africa.</p> <p>On Sunday, Morrison met with several world leaders. He said he discussed Australia’s decision last week to contribute troops, a surveillance plane and a Navy frigate to help in the US-led effort to protect shipping lanes from Iran during meetings with Merkel and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.</p> <p>“[They had] a great respect for the way that Australia thinks through these issues and is very clear about how we pursue our national interests and do so in a way which is very, very well-targeted,” Morrison told reporters.</p> <p>He also spoke about the contribution during meetings with Johnson and Trump. When he sat down with the latter, Morrison reiterated Australia’s concerns about the escalating US-China trade dispute and its impact on the global economy. Trump announced a further increase in tariffs ahead of the France event.</p> <p>“These types of responses, I would say they’re fairly obvious in terms of how that would play out until this matter is resolved,” Morrison said. He said while both sides had raised legitimate grievances about the other, “you can’t just sort of brush these issues aside forever, they have to be dealt with”.</p>

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