Scott Morrison says he made ‘disastrous mistake’ trying to stop WA from shutting border during COVID-19

Scott Morrison has conceded he made a disastrous mistake by trying to stop Western Australia from shutting its border during the COVID pandemic, declaring he now has a “different view” about the actions of then Premier Mark McGowan.

In an interview for a soon to be released book, the former Prime Minister has revealed he was encouraged by WA colleagues Mathias Cormann and Christian Porter Cabinet to support a constitutional challenge to the move.

“It was a massive mistake. But Mathias and Christian advised me to do it,” Mr Morrison is quoted as saying in a soon-to-be-released book by veteran political journalist Paul Kelly.

“(Health Minister) Greg (Hunt) said to exercise caution, but he was a lone voice. At the start there was no pushback from any Western Australians in our cabinet,” he is quoted as saying in an excerpt of the book released to The Australian.

During the first year of the pandemic mining magnate Clive Palmer launched a High Court challenge to Western Australia’s border closure after he was denied entry to the state in May 2020.

Initially Mr Morrison had supported Mr Palmer’s legal action that claimed Premier McGowan’s policy, which lasted 697 days, was in breach of section 92 of the Constitution guaranteeing free movement between states.

The High Court found in November 2020 that Western Australia’s Emergency Management Act complied with the Constitution, and the directions did not raise a constitutional issue.

Mr Morrison has declared that he now thinks closing the WA border was a sensible move but blames his initial opposition to the move as being critical to Labor winning four seats in the state at the 2022 federal election.

“I knew within a short time it was a disaster. I went to work with Mark (McGowan) to fix it. I can’t blame the Labor Party for using that against me. I mean, why wouldn’t they? And I don’t hold it against Mark either. So yes, it was a disaster. I don’t think we would have lost as many seats in WA as we did.”

“I have a different view now. In the first few weeks and months of the pandemic we didn’t really talk about borders,” he said. “We had closed the international border, but what did that mean internally?

“We didn’t give that enough thought because, ultimately, I think the West Australian border made a lot of sense. It didn’t disrupt the national economy. The border was in a remote area. The borders between Victoria and NSW and between NSW and Queensland were a completely different issue,” Mr Morrison says.

His former Assistant Minister Ben Morton, who was also a senior Liberal figure from WA, is quoted as saying the Morrison government’s actions were highly damaging to its political standing in his home state.

“The impression left was that the prime minister was saying that Western Australia had got it wrong. The people were never going to accept that. I went to work to get the decision reversed but it was too late. The issue was being presented as Palmer versus the entire state with Morrison on Palmer’s side.”

The West Australian has approached Mr McGowan for comment on the former prime minister’s Mea culpa, but he has not yet responded.