PM Scott Morrison’s been videoed walking away from a 24 year-old youth advocate during a photo after they tried to bring up climate change. Shock horror!
Desiree Cai is a campaigner with youth organisation the Tomorrow Movement. On Good Friday, Desiree went along to a church service in Melbourne which Morrison and local MP Gladys Liu also attended.
According to Desiree, she approached Morrison for a picture after the service. But when she started to ask him about the climate he swiftly scurried away, like a little fossil fuel-powered mouse
And because we live in the Good Year 2022 Desiree’s friend filmed it all and popped it on TikTok.
@tomorrowmvmt Scott Morrison running away from his responsibilities 💅💅💅#scottmorrison #climatecrisis #auspol ♬ original sound – tomorrowmvmt
In the video, Desiree can be heard telling the PM that she’s a young person who is nervous about the future. Big Mood. The PM is giving what can only be described as an awkward smile in preparation for the pic.
“Every year the climate crisis gets worse,” Desiree told the PM and Liu.
Scott Morrison then interrupted to ask if they were taking a photo.
“We are taking a photo,” said Desiree’s friend who was filming. They also asked Morrison not to touch their camera. A reasonable request in my book!
But Morrison made a quick 180 spin and walked speedily off into the crowd. Nothing makes a man walk quicker than questions of accountability, I suppose.
Desiree told PEDESTRIAN.TV that she’d wanted to talk to Morrison about the concerns of young people. As well as climate change, she was hoping to bring up job insecurity and casual work.
According to her, Morrison “didn’t want to engage”. Desiree also said she wanted to ask him what his government’s plan was for the future. But no dice.
“Young people want a government who will actually govern for our future and tackle the biggest issues facing us,” Desiree told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“The government needs to aim bigger with their policies about climate change, something that matches the scale of the crisis”.
At the time of writing, the TikTok video has over 14,000 likes and 148,000 views.
The vid comes less than a week after the Liberal National Party refused to send a rep to a youth forum. Youth advocates from a number of different orgs held an event called Youth on the Mic on April 13.
They invited politicians from the three main parties who hold youth portfolios. Labor MP Amanda Rishworth and Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John rocked up to answer questions.
Now to be clear, Scott Morrison wasn’t invited to attend the forum. But Liberal’s Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services Luke Howarth was invited and declined.
So all in all not a great week for the Liberals engaging with the concerns of young people. Maybe it’s time to get on a TikTok trend or, I don’t know, talk to a single youth.
