Is it really over?
A great bromance of our time has broken down, as many do, with accusations of lies and betrayal.
For four years, Scott Morrison has had a weekly spot on Ray Hadley’s program on Sydney’s 2GB. During Morrison’s time as immigration minister, his Monday morning interviews about the government’s controversial border protection policies were often to the exclusion of all other journalists.
Like any relationship, they’ve had their ups and downs. They have, like many couples, struggled with trust issues.
After Tony Abbott was rolled as PM, Hadley bizarrely tried to make Morrison swear on a Bible that he had not lied to Hadley about whether the party was plotting against Abbott.
The pair made up, but the relationship has been deteriorating with petty sniping over the past couple of years.
In wrapping up the segment just a couple of weeks ago, Hadley said goodbye with, “I hope we’re talking to you next month as treasurer” — a reference to rumours Morrison might lose his portfolio.
But yesterday the death of the relationship was confirmed when Hadley found out Morrison (or his staff) had lied to get out of the weekly spot — which he and previously done by phone or from another studio if not in Sydney. Instead, Morrison was cheating on him by appearing on the ABC — of all places — with Jon Faine in Melbourne.
Hadley today said he’d already moved on in a column for The Daily Telegraph:
“For the past 12 months, every time I’ve had him on I’ve copped a torrent of emails from listeners complaining that Morrison, who used to have something worthwhile to say, has become a bland, say-nothing treasurer … It was getting pretty tedious, to be honest. If Morrison wants to align himself with the ABC and try and capture left-wing voters in Sydney and Melbourne in the hope they’ll vote for the Coalition at the next election, good luck to him.”
And this morning he announced he’d already filled the space in his heart and radio show with former PM Tony Abbott, who, we are sure, will not use the opportunity to snipe or undermine the government.
No matter how quickly Hadley’s rebounded, surely he’s dealing with the break-up like the best of us do: With a break-up playlist.
Perhaps he was singing along to Sherbet’s Howzat: “You messed about/I caught you out/Howzat/Now that I found where you’re at/It’s goodbye”.
Hadley has clearly drawn a line, saying there’s no going back for the couple. So Taylor Swift’s modern classic We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together probably got a run. Or it could just be that Hadley is more of a Fleetwood Mac guy, dedicating Go Your Own Way to Morrison.
But, given it took just one day to replace Morrison, maybe it was most fitting for Hadley to be passionately belting out some of Beyonce’s Irreplaceable: “I can have another you by tomorrow/So don’t you ever for a second get to thinking /You’re irreplaceable”.
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