Remember the great national scandal of 2019? No, not a corruption inquiry or foreign interference. It was Scott Morrison going on a secret family holiday to Hawaii. You couldn’t turn on a television, open a paper, or scroll social media without being told how disgraceful, insensitive, and emblematic of leadership failure it was. The pitchforks came out, led by the media class who decided Morrison's temporary absence from the country was an indictable offence.
Fast forward to October 2025. Anthony Albanese, our current Prime Minister, has jetted off on a tropical holiday with his partner. The public wasn't told where he was going. His office actually went to the media direct to request that there be a media blackout on the holiday and they, by and large, appear to have obliged. As a result, as at the time of writing, there's only been two articles published referring to Albo's holiday. That’s it. No media pile-on. No satirical takedowns. No breathless commentary.
Morrison left during a bushfire season, a familiar, albeit devastating, part of Australia's climate reality. Albanese leaves while the country faces an economic and cultural bushfire, one his own government helped ignite. While he's sipping cocktails, your country burns metaphorically under the weight of skyrocketing grocery bills, out-of-control immigration, and families being forced to choose between rent or dinner.
Now, I'm no blind defender of Scott Morrison. I was among the first in the Coalition ranks to criticise his government’s heavy-handed COVID policies. From vaccine mandates to lockdowns, his capitulation to health bureaucrats and his disregard for individual freedoms were a betrayal of conservative values. But even flawed leaders deserve fair treatment, and what we saw in 2019 was a media lynching dressed up as righteous indignation.
We are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis. Fuel is unaffordable, housing is out of reach, and the average Australian is drowning in expenses while bureaucrats fiddle with net zero fantasies and diversity quotas. And while all this unfolds, Albanese disappears into the tropics with not even a public statement to explain where he’s gone. The only people who knew were the airline passengers who spotted him in economy, apparently the only concession to optics his office considered.
Worse, his destination is being kept secret under a cosy agreement with the press. Think about that: the Prime Minister is overseas, and the media, who claim to champion transparency and accountability, agreed not to tell the public where their leader is. Morrison never got that privilege. He was hounded. They practically put out a manhunt. But with Albo? Total silence.
The comparison is stark. It tells you everything about how the modern media establishment operates. When the Prime Minister fits their ideological mould, he is treated with kid gloves. When he doesn’t, they’ll torch him with the righteous fury of a lynch mob.
This isn’t about whether a Prime Minister is allowed a break. Of course they are. It is about the double standard. It is about the quiet complicity of a media that selectively decides when leadership matters, when holidays are inappropriate, and when to stoke public outrage.
So while families across Australia struggle with food prices, energy bills, and overcrowded hospitals, our Prime Minister is off grid, sipping coconuts, protected by a wall of media silence. And the rest of us? We’re just meant to cop it, say thank you, and pay the next bill.
Thought for the Day
“The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he's the victim and make the victim look like he's the criminal.” – Malcolm X
