The Chaser Report - Scott Morrison rejected from PWC job despite having references from 5 previous ministers

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

Charles and Dom are back, but Biden is not! And Scomo would be, did he not pose a severe reputational risk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello, and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. Hello, Charles. Hello, Dom. Look, big news broke, I'm going to say yesterday morning in the pretense that we're recording this at 5 a.m. today. Big news broke yesterday morning with Joe Biden canceling the trip to Australia. He's not coming, Mr. President.

Huge blow for Albo. Huge blow for Arbo And not only is his visit cancelled The whole quad The rest of India don't want to come Japan don't want to come It's like if Joe's not coming to your pay We're not coming

Look we'll get on to the President's visit And a fascinating story involving our old friend Scott Morrison Right after this Scott Morrison We don't want people to turn off Just don't plug Scott Morrison No I can sure

There may not I can't promise them there's no Scott Morrison They'll sue So they're all going to miss out On the opportunity to see Alba I thought Alba was the main attraction. Yeah. Biden was the side show.

He's going to take you down to Merrickville, take them to some craft breweries. He was going to take him to the council house. It's sort of show. It's like when you organise a party and you've got someone more popular on the guest list and then they pull out. And it's like it wasn't really about visiting Australia. It was about Biden.

It's so embarrassing. But you know what's really embarrassing? What? Is that Biden said, you know, of course you can come here. So it's like, I don't want to come to you, but if you want to rock up, that's fine. So wait a minute, his argument, he doesn't have any time. No. But he will have a party at his house.

I don't have a time to come to your party. I can't get to your party, but we're going to have some people over later. Just drop in time. That's fine. That feels like sort of a dis. So why isn't Biden coming? What's the... The reason is, as I understand it, because he has to deal with yet another debt cliff.

thing. This is this crazy thing that happens in American politics where the Republicans pretend that they're not going to authorise the US economy going into more debt, the US government going into more debt. And isn't the whole role of the

president during all these bluffs to call the blaff and pretend that you're not really worried about it? That's what he's been doing. It's actually been a bit of a different strategy. He's actually saying, oh, go ahead. American taxpayers will blame you, but it's not a good look

for him to me out of America while there's this massive, completely avoidable crisis. But what about, what better way to call the Bluff than to go, sorry, not even paying attention, I'm over in Australia. Sorry, can't hear you. Yeah, can't hear you. Sorry. I'm in Australia. Enjoying the craft brewery in Marrickville.

Yeah. Maybe he just thought, maybe he didn't want to go to America. Maybe he did some Googling. I went, oh, it's supposed to be one of the coolest places in the world. Do you think maybe it's because DJ Albo offered to a... Oh, offered to spin some... Oh, no. Yes, that's what it is.

That's what it probably is. Oh, boy, you've got to stop with the DJ. Or do you think it's that Biden was scared of meeting Penny Wong? That's good. I mean... It could be what it was. There's so many reasons. I feel like the debt ceiling is just a pretext.

It's a pretext. Maybe he wanted to put off his visit until he could attend the most important event in Australia this century. Oh, yeah. The opening of the Tasmania Stadium, of course. He wouldn't want to, you know, come too early. No, I reckon, no, I reckon it's the opposite. I reckon he was so upset about the announcement of the Hobart Stadium. Oh, like those Tasmanian liberals.

Yes, that he decided to just punish Albo. Punish Albo. People in Tasmania can't get houses, giving him a stadium. Yes, exactly. He'd be right across Tasmanian politics, wouldn't he? This was also going to be the first trip by a sitting US president to Papua New Guinea. Oh. And that's off now.

So that's... Maybe that's the real snub. I think so, because it's never happened. We're collateral damage. We're collateral damage. Actually, that's what it would have been. You can't tell me. He wanted to make history.

Like, you know, Nixon went to China. Yes. I think was it Obama who went to Vietnam? A lot of historic visits, where's left to go? Well, Mr. President, PNG. Trump went to North Korea, didn't he? You can go and see the sites of Port Moresby. Well, he met with North Korea.

He didn't go to North Korea. Yeah, and Port Moresby. You can go and check it out. Port Moresby away. Bougainville's there And so we were We were the tack on Weren't we?

Yes, we were Yeah So we shouldn't be that offended We were probably there So that he could get into the right time zone Get some rest Get over his jet lag Before going to PNG

But also, you know the other thing That he'd be disappointed about He was going to address the Australian Parliament I don't know You probably recall a joint sitting And Stuart Robert Was planning to resign before that was going to happen He's not even going to be there for that

Stuart Robert Imagine Biden's disappointment Oh, that's another, yeah, it's sort of like, canceling on me. Brother Stewie's not going to be at the party. I can't, I can't get there. Do you think maybe it's because Scott Morrison will be there? And he doesn't want to. Reputational risk.

He doesn't want to bump anywhere near, bump into Scott Morrison. That could be it. We've got to talk about that as well. But this is a fascinating moment, Charles. Can we get on to this now? Yeah, no, let's. Because this is another bit of fascinating news. It begins with a scandal.

certain consulting firm, I think, had a major hiring dilemma in the past little while. Yes, that's right. I've heard that really quite challenging. A very high-profile person who might well be able to use their contacts to attract new business, new clients, and yet, Charles, and yet that person was Scott Morrison. Yes. Do you know more about what happened? Well, from what I've, so the thing is, PWC, which has in the last 24, 48 hours,

been thrown into turmoil, not because of the Scott Morrison thing, but because it's been revealed that they shared confidential tax information with all the... They basically were employed by the government to stop tax avoidance, and then within hours of getting their information from the government, they then shared it with all their clients to help them avoid tax. Yeah, so just to be clear on it is, the government has been essentially outsourcing, this is what happened under the Morrison government outsourcing much of the public services

function to very expensive consultants I know some people who worked in this charging massive amounts of money on the assumption that they did a better job so they got this privilege information and immediately leaked it to their clients thereby completely undermining the whole pointed exercise which was to raise a more tax revenue

yes that's right yes so not only was it a breach of confidentiality it was actually stealing effectively money from tax This is money that they would have had to pay in new taxes that they avoided. Yes. What a fucked thing to do. Well, not only that, but the whole way these consulting firms work is you have to trust that they won't then spread the information they get.

Because you're divulging the most intimate details of your own business or government or whatever to these firms, that they won't then spread them to the rest of the industry, right? Their entire business model is trust. So it's become a global scandal for PDP. I used to work for consulting firms when I was very young. And you know the term that they use internally? Chinese walls, which I've always found very confusing because aren't Chinese walls traditionally made of bamboo

and thereby completely transparent, largely translucent and very flimsy? That seems to be an appropriate analogy. No, but it's shocking, and this is what happens. So you'll have occasionally, for instance, only very occasionally, but you'll have the same firm advising two competitors, right? And so you have to trust that they're so ethical that they can basically play both sides of the table with different teams. Yes.

So the thing is, I think we can say with absolute certainty that the governance of PWC was rotten from the top. You know, the top guy in Australia has actually resigned in the last 48 hours. He was running at the top, incredibly, ethically and morally compromised. Scott Morrison was put up for a job there. Yes. And PWC went, no, sorry, you're not for us. On the basis that there was too much reputational risk. Yes.

And look, I've got a bit of inside information, which is that apparently Scott Morrison didn't just, you know, throw his head in the ring. He had references from five top members. ministers. Also, your high Scott Morrissey,

you're not just getting one job. Yeah, you're not getting one. He could have had, he could have performed many roles. Five for one. Five for the price of one.

Actually, are we absolutely dead set sure that he hasn't already appointed himself head of PWC secretly anyway? I presume he was the CEO who had to resign. Yeah, it's right.

It will all come out. I just put WC. Morrison into a browser, Charles. Oh, yes. And I've got to say, speaking of reputational risk, mm,

WC were paid $11.4 million for guess which Morrison government project in 2021? Guess what they were part of? Oh, it wasn't the app, was it? COVID-safe app. No, it wasn't the COVID-safe app. It wasn't car parks.

It wasn't that rural funding for the North Sydney pool. Do you remember the thing that happened? It's so hard to go to the other scanners. Do you remember the thing that happened in 2021 that arguably directly led to us being fucking locked down? The vaccine... The vaccine stroll out. They were part of the stroll-out.

They had a 12-month contract for management support of the vaccine program from 2020, and it was kept secret until August that PWC was part of this. So arguably, arguably, PWC owed Morrison, and even then, you know, you scratch your back, it was great. Yeah, they thought he was too toxic. He was too toxic to work for them. Imagine being Scott Morrison at this point. Do you reckon if he went to Chernobyl and offered to clean up,

they go, sorry, too content. emanated. Like, where is he going to get a job? Does he, because apparently this is a problem, right? Like, I mean, Fukushima comes to mind. Yeah, he's sort of, he's kicking the ties. Well, this is the thing, is that he would already have left. This is the thing that's going to be very interesting is, it's widely assumed the

rumours are out there that if he can only find a cushy job to keep Jenny and the girls, it's all about Jenny and the girls in the lifestyle that's become accustomed, he would have left already. And there'd be another by-election in Cook, and imagine if that, you'd think there'd be a good chance of that going to a teal or even to labour. My information is Dutton wanted a super Saturday, get them all out of the way at the same time. But Morrison hasn't quite landed the job yet. And the one place that is likely to hire him is a defence contractor.

Because he appointed himself defence minister, he has an 18-month. There's a ban on him. Because he knows all the privileged... Yeah, he's got to not have been in the position for 18 months, which means he's waiting until the end of the year, and he's just taking the taxpayer money till the end of the year rather than jumping in a more efficient manner when he doesn't want him to go. I think that's very unfair, Charles, to Scott Morrison.

Because what did he do as defence minister? I mean, you're punishing it for a position in which he did literally nothing, despite holding it for a long time. Okay, so at the point where the non-competitor, whatever it is, or the privilege information thing, isn't he going to get snapped up by someone from Orcus? Because one of the things he can claim, if you're going to be fair to Scott Morrison's legacy,

and I think this is going to become, this may turn sour down the track, but Orcus was his thing. Yes. He was the genius that came up with, let's give untold billions of dollars to either the UK or the US to be better mates with them. Well, and this is the rumour,

is that it's a UK defence contracting firm that's going to pick him up. And all he had to do, imagine having to pay someone $368 billion in order to get a job. Well, I mean, John Barrowaro didn't quite manage it. But no, you would think that actually should be, you shouldn't ever be allowed to work in that field.

Having been part of that deal, maybe five years. No, never. It's just a total corrupt. I would have thought never. Yeah, if he had any morals or integrity, but unfortunately, yeah. I mean, this is why I have to say, four credit to Malcolm Turnbull, right, who is so rich that he doesn't need to do this. Yeah, that's right.

I think he didn't he go and get a job with the hedge fund anyway, just for the hell of it, like KKR or someone? Oh, really? Yeah, I think he did just because he could. Because he could. Yeah, yeah. No, but, look, I think the whole thing about, for Scott Morrison, about working for a defense contractor is if your whole business model is to just murder,

to people, then I suspect you're not worried too much about reputational risk. Like, they're not going to have any of the sort of PWC issues in hiring him. Surely there's a very neat solution to this. Oh, yeah. Shouldn't you just work for PWC now? I mean, don't they deserve each other in a sense? That's right. Actually, that should be PWC's punishment.

What's? Yes. Where's the reputational risk now? Yes. Which of the two of them would suffer worse from the association at this point? Yes, I love it. Scott Morrison, CEO, CFO, Chief Content Officer, Chief Creative Officer, Chief Risk Officer. All of the C-suite jobs, Scott Morrison, and he can put the C in PWC.

It is a total C. Kill five birds with one stone. Yep, yep. There you guys. Mission accomplished. Scott, out you go. Let's have a buy-election in Cook. Enjoy a PWC.

Our gear is from Road. We're part of the Aconiclass Network. Get you tomorrow. And we do not receive money. from or work for PWC, although if they want to pay us, we have no way, no ethics. And also, happy to take defence contractor ads. Yeah, and Scott Morrison, if you want a job, get in touch. Our standards are low.

Actually, I think even Scott Morrison wouldn't work with us. I think there would be a reputational risk to him. Yeah. Yeah.