I don’t know about you, but most days when I wake up, I know which country I’m in. Very rarely have I woken up of a morning at a total loss as to which nation I was currently residing in. I’ve never been in these exact circumstances, but my gut feeling is that if I were an Australian politician, I would likely remember that my job is to serve at the behest of the Australian people. Just a guess.
This is, apparently, not the case with our new prime minister, Scott Morrison. As Labor MP Tim Watts pointed out, there was a surprising proliferation of Australian flag pins among Morrison’s newly appointed cabinet:
Can confirm: presented upon swearing in, affixed before group photo pic.twitter.com/fHVyAjl4G9
— Brett Mason (@BrettMasonNews) August 28, 2018
While not a particularly common sight in Australia, these little patriotic pieces of jewellery are massive in America. Flag pins became a huge point of contention in the 2008 election when Obama was asked why he didn’t wear one, a scenario that would seem laughably insane in Australia because we don’t tend to go for that showy, jingoistic type of nationalism. For the most part.
Morrison took to Twitter on Monday night to explain why he was giving them out, describing it in terms so condescending it made me want to rip my own eyes out (but your experience may differ):
Today I gave each of my Ministers a lapel pin with the Australian flag on it. I’ve been wearing this for many years now. The reason I wear it is because it reminds me every single day whose side I’m on. I’m on the side of the Australian people. pic.twitter.com/JAz5jPeXmD
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) August 28, 2018
Well that’s comforting to know, wouldn’t want him to wake up one day under the impression that he’s on the side of the Belgian people (I don’t know much about Belgium but I assume that the interests of that country and its citizens run directly contrary to the interests of ours).
This reads as unbelievably cheesy and patronising pandering to xenophobic voters but hey, who knows, maybe he just does have a memory so incredibly impaired that it might actually be dangerous for him to drive a car.
