On January 4th 2020 Scott Morrison announced that ADF Personnel would be deployed to assist emergency services with bushfire fighting activities. Shortly thereafter a video was posted on the prime minister’s Twitter and Facebook pages summarizing the announcement. The video was backed by a jaunty* musical soundtrack and rythmic finger clicking.
David Marr had the insight to see that Morrison, whose professional career prior to politics was in Marketing, had released a jingle. A jaunty jingle. In the midst of Australia’s worst-ever bushfire emergency.
Immediate criticism followed. The tone of the jingle. The fact that it was a jingle. The use of Australian Defence Personnel in a Party-Political communication against long-standing conventions regarding prohibition against politicising the Australian defence force (The head of the Australian Defence Association, Neil James, said it was “plain wrong. It’s simple: you don’t use the defence force for party political advantage” ), posting the jingle on a web-page which solicits donations for the Liberal Party, and, most of all, using bushfire response announcements for party-political purposes.
Here’s Why Morrison’s Bushfire Jingle Is Party-Political
Morrison vehemently denies that his Bushfire announcement jingle was designed for party-political purposes, but his own explanation shows you that he is lying.
Morrison explained that the reason for his Bushfire Ad was that he couldn’t rely on the Media to properly transmit the contents of his Bushfire response to the Australian public.
As much as we’d all like to only rely on the reporting of the media to get those information out, I will also seek to carry that message directly to the Australian people to ensure they are aware of what we are doing.
So, Morrison would have you believe that the Australian Media cannot be trusted to reliably transmit the contents of the Federal Government’s Bushfire response to the general public. What nonsense. The man is patently lying.
What Morrison means is that the media will not transmit the message in exactly the way in which Morrision wants it transmitted – with a jingle and jaunty finger-clicking – in a way which uncritically makes Morrison look fantastic.
Not Concerned With Facts
If Morrison was merely concerned about the facts of his response being transmitted then he would have been satisfied with his media release which contained those facts and which he posted, like his Ad, on the Liberal Party and Government websites.
But, in fact, all the facts of his response had already been reported over and again in fine detail on TV and Radio on every and all channel and station. The facts were out there everywhere.
Morrison’s Ad is not designed to address a deficit of information, of transmission or of factual reporting. Its there to address image. Morrison’s personal image. That;s how we can tell the Ad is party-political. Its there to make Morrison look good.
And the second give-away that this Ad is party-political, also vehemently denied by Morrison who says this is unimportant , is the authorisation at the end of the Ad is from ‘S. Morrison, Liberal Party, Canberra’.
Morrison has faced constant criticism since the beginning of summer for his dismissive attitide towards, ham-fisted handling of, dishonest statements about, miserly outlook towards, and indifference to the Bushfire Emergency.
The Ad is designed to repair those perceptions. So the Ad says that the Government Bushfire Response is fantastic and the person responsible for this fantastic bushfire response is S. Morrison, Canberra.
Its nothing about the supposed inadequecy of the Media to report the facts of Government Bushfire Response.
It is 100% about the inadequecy of Scott Morrison as Prime Minister.
Hence Morrison’s Jaunty Party-Politcal Bushfire Jingle.
Acknowledgement
*Thanks to Stephanie Covery for so aptly providing the appelation jaunty for Morrison’s bushfire jingle