Michael Towke Scott Morrison

2022 - 4 - 3

scott morrison michael towke

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Sydney Morning Herald"

How Michael Towke's brutal political takedown came back to bite ... (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Towke was an unexploded bomb, primed since the savage Liberal preselection contest of 2007 and lit by the speech of Concetta Fierravanti-Wells in the Senate ...

He confirms a statutory declaration he signed in 2016 in which he said Morrison told Liberals in 2007 they could not support Towke because he was Lebanese and there were rumours he was a Muslim. A signed statement by another Liberal, Scott Chapman, says the same. The stronger defence for Morrison comes from Lebanese Australians who are willing to put their names to their praise for the Prime Minister, as many have done in these pages today.Senator Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate last Tuesday that Scott Morrison was “not fit to be prime minister” because of his conduct.Only now has Towke said in public what he felt then. She was suddenly free to speak her mind after losing a ballot last weekend to keep her place in the Senate. The most dangerous politician is often the politician with nothing to lose.Once Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate that she knew of statutory declarations about the 2007 ballot, the search was on to locate them.Towke was an unexploded bomb. His success at the party ballot in July 2007, where he won 82 votes and Morrison won 8, triggered a brutal political takedown that included days of stories in the media that sought to trash his reputation.Those stories included claims he had a criminal history, falsified his qualifications and lied about his time in the army reserve. The detonation is just a matter of time.Sooner or later, Towke would want to be heard.The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. He says the personal attack is timed for the eve of the election. They did not like his recruitment of new members even though Malcolm Turnbull had stormed into Parliament just three years earlier with a breathtaking membership drive in the electorate of Wentworth.Party headquarters ruled that Towke had paid for membership fees when signing people up and had therefore broken the party rules, so they ordered a new ballot and cleared the way for Morrison. The deputy director of the state division was Scott Briggs, a close friend of Morrison.Liberals close to those events still insist that Towke was a bad candidate and had to be stopped. They only emerged because NSW senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who backed Towke in 2007, chose last Tuesday to denounce Morrison as not being fit to be prime minister.It is no secret that Fierravanti-Wells has disliked Morrison for years but her denunciation was astonishing. Michael Towke barely hinted at the way he felt about Scott Morrison the last time he went public about the savage Liberal contest in 2007 that handed the Prime Minister a prize seat in Parliament.“These guys were prepared to ruin my life,” Towke said in these pages in 2009 when he spoke about the dirt thrown at him during the Liberal ballot to choose the party’s candidate for Cook, a blue-ribbon seat that includes Cronulla in southern Sydney.Michael Towke and Scott Morrison. Their history was an unexploded bomb for the Liberal Party.Towke would not say who “these guys” were. He accepted a $50,000 settlement with News without a confidentiality agreement, leaving him free to talk to journalist Paul Sheehan at this publication to reject the false claims.It is no secret that Fierravanti-Wells has disliked Morrison for years but her denunciation was astonishing.Sheehan wrote that there was a view among some senior Liberals that a Lebanese Australian could not win Cook in a tight election. Towke, a Maronite Catholic, did not name the senior Liberals.By the time he told his story, however, it was too late to save his political career. He chose his words carefully at the time to tell his side of the story without naming names.

Michael Towke, Scott Morrison: PM forced to deny allegations of ... (Verve times)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been forced to deny allegations he made racist comments against a political opponent in 2007.

They assert, he told the publication, that “racial vilification was front and centre and he (Mr Morrison) was directly involved”. He was also described by the senator as a “bully” and an “autocrat” with “no moral compass”. The PM on Sunday told reporters in Tasmania that there was no basis for the allegation.

Scott Morrison Has Been Hit With Explosive Racism Allegations ... (Junkee)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been hit with explosive racism claims, backed by two statutory declarations, dating back to 2007.

“They see this as it is. Those are his words,” he added, referring to Sydney GP Dr Jamal Rifi who is a prominent and respected member of the Australian Lebanese community. “And what’s more Jamal Rifi, who is an Australian Lebanese Muslim leader. The allegations date back to 2007, when Morrison was fighting for pre-selection for the seat of Cook. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Herald and The Sunday Age, Michael Towke asserted that Morrison allegedly told members of the Liberal Party not to vote for him because he was Lebanese, and because of rumours he was a Muslim. Towke’s claims are backed by a statutory declaration he signed back in 2016 — three years before Morrison became prime minister. The allegations date back to 2007, when Morrison was fighting for pre-selection for the seat of Cook.

Michael Towke, Scott Morrison: PM forced to deny allegations of ... (7NEWS.com.au)

'These are quite malicious and bitter slurs, which are deeply offensive, and I reject them absolutely.'

Business as usual: the Towke revelations will do little harm, if any, to ... (Crikey)

Don't expect allegations about Scott Morrison's use of racism to undermine a rival to have much effect beyond Canberra.

Scott Morrison engulfed by racism accusation as campaign looms (The New Daily)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has again been forced to deny reports he used racist slander in his campaign to first enter Parliament.

“Scott Morrison told me that, if Michael Towke were to be preselected, there would be a ‘swing against the Liberal Party in Cook’ because of Mr Towke’s Lebanese background,” Mr Chapman said in the untested statutory declaration, according to a report by Nine newspapers. The emergence of new details about the cloudy circumstances in which Mr Morrison entered Parliament could not have come at a worse time for the Prime Minister, who is trying to sell voters on his budget handouts and has been preparing to formally initiate an election campaign. Another Liberal involved in the preselection, who declined to be quoted by name, citing party rules against speaking to the media, said material had been circulated among preselectors attempting to link Mr Towke to local cases of disorderly behaviour. Cook Liberal Wade McInerney recalled that after Mr Towke bested Mr Morrison in the preselection ballot by 82 votes to eight, party officials in charge of vetting candidates began regularly demanding answers about a string of damaging claims. The contents of statutory declarations signed in 2016 by Mr Towke and a preselector, Scott Chapman, were made public this weekend – first reported by The Saturday Paper – and included claims Mr Morrison had made comments about the political downsides of Mr Towke’s race while spreading misplaced rumours that he was a Muslim. Last week Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells called Mr Morrison unfit to be Prime Minister and said he had campaigned against a preselection rival, Michael Towke, because of his Lebanese heritage.

Question about PM Anna won't answer (NEWS.com.au)

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to be drawn on whether she considers Scott Morrison to be a bully as the Prime Minister dodges ...

I’ll let people work out their own findings on what’s motivating that.” “They see this as it is. They want leadership.” “I am here today to … talk about workers. Annastacia Palaszczuk has dodged repeated questioning about Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the wake of his latest “political hit”. Annastacia Palaszczuk has dodged repeated questioning about Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the wake of his latest “political hit”.

Scott Morrison's predecessor Bruce Baird denies race claims ... (The Guardian)

Former Liberal minister and Cook MP questions motives of those making allegations.

“There’s a myriad of people who’ve come out and defended the PM from the Lebanese community. Baird acknowledged he was a friend of Morrison’s, but denied that was the reason for his intervention. I absolutely reject it.” I completely reject it. “I never heard it. In 2007, Towke defeated Morrison in an initial preselection ballot by 82 votes to Morrison’s eight.

Scott Morrison, Michael Towke and those alleged racist comments ... (Mamamia)

As the election countdown gears up, Scott Morrison is facing allegations of racism towards a fellow Liberal MP during preselection in 2007.

"To claim as others have that Scott is racist and a bully I think is wrong," he added.Housing Minister Michael Sukkar, who is of Lebanese descent, also came to Morrison's defence, writing on Twitter that in his experience there is no MP who's shown more support, care and respect for the Australian Lebanese community. As one of the few Australians of Lebanese descent in the Parliament, I feel compelled to weigh in on recent media reports concerning @ScottMorrisonMP. In my experience, there is no MP, let alone PM, who's shown more support, care and respect for the Australian Lebanese community.— Michael Sukkar (@MichaelSukkarMP) April 3, 2022 Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers told Sky News' Sunday Agenda, "I don't think anyone believes the prime minister, frankly. In April 2019 Scott Morrison attended Good Friday mass at St Charbel’s Church in Punchbowl. The same church I grew up in, where we baptised my sisters and buried my nan.— Jan Fran (@Jan__Fran) April 2, 2022"Lemme tell you what ethnic minorities have known since forever in this country. "They’ll come to your church and wax lyrical about the 'deep appreciation' they have for your heritage and then they’ll use that very heritage - the one they so deeply appreciate - to throw you under the bus the second they need to." I know for a fact that many other members of the Lebanese Maronite community saw his visit as a sign of respect. While labelling Scott Morrison a "bully who has no moral compass," she spoke about statutory declarations claiming that when Morrison ran for the NSW lower house seat of Cook in 2007, he made "racial comments" about the man running against him in the preselection battle - Michael Towke."Morrison might profess to be Christian, but there was nothing Christian about what was done to Michael Towke," she told the Senate last Tuesday night." The Prime Minister of Australia is here in our church on the holiest of days, reading from the Bible and shaking hands with the congregation... "Whether it was the empathy and solidarity shown with Lebanon during the terrible events and aftermath of the Beirut bomb, or his presence and support for countless causes within our community, there is no greater champion for the Australian Lebanese community than the PM," he wrote. The only way that Towke could get political exoneration for a future run was to agree to put his numbers behind Morrison."Over the weekend both The Saturday Paper and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed the contents of those statutory declarations - signed in 2016 - for the first time.They claimed Morrison told party members it was electorally risky to select Towke because of his ethnic background and because of rumours he was a Muslim."Scott Morrison told me that, if Michael Towke were to be preselected, there would be a ‘swing against the Liberal Party in Cook’ because of Mr Towke’s Lebanese background," Liberal party member Scott Chapman said in a signed declaration, as reported by SMH."Also during that meeting, Scott Morrison informed me that there was a strong rumour about that ‘Michael Towke is actually a Moslem’ [sic]."The second declaration was written by Towke, who said a number of party members had told him they'd been warned not to vote for him because "he [Morrison] was adamant and explicit that a candidate of Lebanese heritage could not hold the seat of Cook, especially after the Cronulla riots".The 2005 Cronulla riots targeting men of 'Middle Eastern appearance' left dozens injured in a shocking act of racially fuelled violence. Having lost the ballot Morrison and his cronies went to Sam Dastyari to get dirt on Towke..."I am advised that there are several statutory declarations to attest to racial comments made by Morrison at the time that 'we can’t have a Lebanese person in Cook'. "The state executive voted 12 to 11 not to endorse Towke and ordered a modified selection process. Re-confirming the comments he made in 2016, Towke told SMH on the weekend, "I stand by the declarations I asserted in my statutory declaration." People will throw all sorts of mud at you – particularly when you get up close to an election and they’ll make all sorts of things up because they have other motivations," he said.Asked whether he would be prepared to sign a statutory declaration denying the allegations, he said “Yes, of course I would.”Morrison's direct predecessor Bruce Baird has rejected the allegations, telling the ABC, "I'm not aware of any [racist comments] and I was as close as anybody to it."

Michael Towke Scott Morrison

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