Gender equality and youth advocate Yasmin Poole has called Prime Minister Scott Morrison the fuck out for putting photo ops ahead of policy, action and common effing decency.
In a Twitter thread Poole detailed an encounter she had with Morrison at Parliament when she was 20.
She was visiting with a gender equality advocacy group and said he used the visiting groups as opportunities for good press, without knowing who any of them were or why they were there.
A thread about Parliament, power and photo ops.
When I was 20, I visited Parliament with a group of young women advocating for gender equality.
We were told we would meet Scott Morrison. We waited next to groups of school kids. He went around the circle posing with each group.
— Yasmin Poole (@yasmin_poole) January 26, 2022
In comparison she said opposition leader Anthony Albanese sat and listened to her group for 30 minutes. After she thanked him for not using their visit as a photo op, she said a senior Liberal staffer demanded a letter of apology from her to all Liberal ministers.
“We were told we would meet Scott Morrison. We waited next to groups of school kids. He went around the circle posing with each group,” the thread read.
“He got to us. He asked us if we support the Sharks. Awkward silence. “Guess I’m asking the wrong group,” he said.
“A minute later, we stood and smiled for a photo. It felt gross. Everything felt cold, insincere.”
Poole said when the group met with Albanese later in the day, he was the “polar opposite”: listening, asking questions and wanting to understand their points of view.
“Nearing the end, I raised my hand and said “Thank you for not treating us like a photo opportunity.” I meant it,” she wrote.
She said no other politicians were in the room, but word “got out” that she made the comment.
“An hour later, I got a call telling me that a senior Liberal staffer was demanding that I write a letter of apology. “With a signature”, they specified.”
She said she felt cornered so she capitulated and wrote it in her university dorm. She remembers crying.
“Refusing to worship the PM was met with tactics of humiliation and control,” she said.
After some negotiation she said the letter was never sent, claiming that they only wanted her to write it.
“They didn’t even care to have it. They just wanted me to write it.
“I think about that moment to this day. I remember how scared and embarrassed I was. I thought I let everyone down.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Poole posted her account after Grace Tame made headlines on Tuesday for deliberately scowling at Morrison during a photo op ahead of the 2022 Australian of the Year award ceremony.
As the 2021 Australian of the Year, Tame was invited to meet with Morrison at the Lodge before she formally handed over the title. In the brief interaction she didn’t speak, but she showed Morrison how she really felt shooting him icy cold daggers. Not the photo op he hoped for.
It’s sparked a national conversation about the expectations for and policing of women and non-binary people’s behaviour, and that Morrison is yet to demonstrate any genuine care or interest in gender equality or even improving the working conditions for his female colleagues in parliament.
It’s also shone a light, yet again, on how Morrison PRed his way into the prime ministership.
Remember Scotty from marketing came from a career in advertising as the previous managing director of Tourism Australia.
Commenters on Poole’s Twitter thread were quick to resurface Morrison’s other photo op attempts that completely backfired.
Perhaps the most famous was when he visited the bushfire-ravaged town of Cobargo and forced one young pregnant woman to shake his hand, ignored what she was saying and then walked away.
She had just lost her home and was asking him for more funding for the Rural Fire Service. When he tried to shake her hand, she didn’t reciprocate, so he grabbed her hand with both of his to shake it in front of cameras.
He was there for the photo op, but the people of Cobargo are still waiting for the help to arrive. pic.twitter.com/KtWsaixlas
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) October 23, 2020
Albanese has repeatedly called out Morrison for “being there for the photo op” but not for the people.
He also went one further on Tuesday, posting a photo of himself and Tame smiling.
Poole has been congratulated on Twitter for speaking out, while other public figures, including one Labor Senator Nita Green, apologised for her treatment and thanked her for her courage.
“I’m sorry this happened Yasmin,” Green tweeted.
“It’s a real shame when experiences with Parliament and Government don’t leave young people feeling inspired. But being inspired to change things for the next generation lights a fire and that’s what young women like you are doing every day.”
