Bailey and Morrison’s “bloody” confrontation

A report over the weekend by Greg Roberts in the Sydney Morning Herald has provided an interesting insight into the “bloody” relationship that had developed between Federal Tourism Minister Bailey and then Tourism Australia CEO Scott Morrison, prior to his recent sudden departure.

Greg Roberts reports that when Minister Bailey fronted the March media launch in London of the “Where the bloody hell are you?” Australian tourism campaign, interest was strong because Britain’s Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre had banned the campaign’s cheeky television advertising.

Conspicuous by his absence was Scott Morrison, a key figure in the development of the $180 million campaign as Managing Director of Tourism Australia, the body responsible for marketing tourism at home and abroad.

When Bailey had finished and left the press conference, Morrison appeared and held his own media briefing and later, at the official campaign launch at Australia’s High Commission, Bailey and Morrison seemed to be at pains to avoid each other.

It was apparent to those at the launch that the two main players in Australia’s $70 billion tourism industry were not on speaking terms with matters coming to a head when Bailey sparked Morrison’s resignation from the $350,000-a-year job. Morrison’s three-year contract, which expired next year, was paid out under a secret agreement that prevents him from commenting publicly.

Tourism Australia is now trying hard to put a lid on the row, but many in the organisation are bitter about what they perceive as the ruthless way in which Morrison was dispatched, with his supporters say he was humiliated by the very public manner of his axing. This is also confirmed by information provided to The Mole.

Bailey had told industry leaders that Morrison had to go because he had lost the confidence of his board, but Board members dispute this. They say there were disagreements with Morrison, but he had the board’s support and that of the Chairman, former Deputy Prime Minister The Hon Tim Fischer. The Board agreed Morrison should go only after Bailey applied pressure, but industry leaders are angry at what they regard as misleading information.

Greg Roberts goes on to say that when Bailey fronts the Tourism and Transport Forum’s annual summit of industry leaders in Canberra next month, she can expect a frosty reception from some.

Bailey believed that Managing Director Morrison had become a one-man show and her supporters in the Howard Government claim he made announcements about important policy directions without enough consultation with the Board or the Minister, with a Government insider saying, “Their working relationship broke down completely and that was because he did what he wanted”. “Something had to give.”

Why did Bailey, who was appointed Tourism Minister after the October 2004 election, and Morrison, who was headhunted for the Tourism Australia job a month later, not get along?

As a long-serving NSW Liberal Party Director at the time of his appointment, Morrison, 38, has demonstrated a ruthless streak of his own. Irfan Yusuf, A former Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Reid, recalls that he asked Morrison if he could take a softer line than the Government’s tough policy on asylum-seekers in talks with local ethnic leaders before the 2001 Tampa poll.

Says Yusuf: “He said, ‘Mate, don’t even think about it. We’re running this line and you get behind it, or else.’ I was taken aback.”

As a member of Sydney’s evangelical Hillsong Church, Morrison is identified with the NSW party’s Right faction, with Bailey, from Victoria, regarded as a moderate and a supporter of Treasurer Peter Costello’s leadership ambitions.

John Howard thinks highly of Morrison and shortly after the 2004 election, when Morrison worked hard to get fellow Hillsong member Louise Markus elected, as she was, in the marginal Sydney seat of Greenway, the Prime Minister singled him out for praise, with Howard declaring he had never seen the NSW party in a better state organisationally.

In his new job, Morrison had the ear of Howard, who ensured generous funding for Tourism Australia, which gets $140 million this year, with Government sources saying Bailey was envious of the access Morrison had to Howard.

As relations between Bailey and Morrison deteriorated, Howard effectively was forced to choose between the pair and felt he had to back his Minister.

The Ministerial experience of Bailey, a former teacher, retailer and cashmere goat breeder, was limited to a brief stint in the junior Employment Services portfolio before Howard gave her Small Business and Tourism.

Bailey is a hands-on minister and her enthusiasm and energy wins plaudits in the industry, with her rarely declining invitations to turn up at functions wanting to be seen as the driving force behind tourism marketing.

The problem is that she does not have much of a department to run as Tourism Australia is a statutory authority with a lot of autonomy.

Small portfolios such as tourism were once tagged on to larger Ministries, but increasingly, they are hived off to Junior Ministers who may be disappointed with the limitations of their role.

Bailey, a headstrong minister, found herself competing for the limelight with Morrison, a headstrong manager of the statutory authority under her wing and relations between them deteriorated, with Morrison was left in no doubt that he was expected to clear public comment with the Minister’s office.

Bailey refused to respond this week to the Sydney Morning Herald when Inquirer asked if she had issued a formal directive to Morrison requiring that his press releases be referred to her.

The role and structure of Tourism Australia is being examined as part of the Howard Government’s response to the review of its statutory authorities by former corporate chairman John Uhrig, with some in the industry fearing Bailey wants to turn the authority into a government department.

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind says, “That would be catastrophic and it is essential that Tourism Australia be able to operate in a very competitive market without being hamstrung by bureaucratic constraints.”

The Mole is also aware of supporters of the Federal’s Government’s statutory tourism role being absorbed into a Government Department, hopefully a dedicated Tourism Department or at least one in an economic development area, where tourism may gain the attention and associated funding it deserves. It may also assist the Government in fully recognising the economic benefit of tourism to Australia.

Greg Roberts says that Bailey is walking on eggshells, with industry bridges she burned before the present discord including Qantas, with Qantas sources saying the airline’s management is maintaining its rage at a suggestion by Bailey late last year that ending Qantas’s monopoly on the lucrative trans-Pacific route would boost inbound tourism.

This week, Opposition tourism spokesman Martin Ferguson put a series of questions on notice to Bailey in Parliament, referring to Morrison’s contract payout, with Ferguson asking, “The minister should explain why half a million dollars of public money has been spent pushing Scott Morrison out the door because she couldn’t compete with him for media attention.” Bailey declines to respond.

Morrison’s legacy to the industry, meanwhile, looks as though it has hit the mark, with weekly hits on the Tourism Australia website rise from 40,000 to 130,000 in the US when the “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign ads are running, notwithstanding complaints about the swearing from the American Family Association.

Inbound tourism numbers remain flat but Tourism Australia public relations manager for the Americas, Rachel Crowley, says a boon is on the way. “It takes months for the benefits of these campaigns to flow through,” she says.

By then, Morrison will likely be well down the path with plans to resurrect a political career with the Liberal Party.

Report by The Mole with thanks to Greg Roberts and the Sydney Morning Herald.