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From Schwartz Media I’m Ruby Jones this is 7am.

Fifteen years ago, Scott Morrison entered parliament, winning the safe Liberal seat of Cook.

The story of how he got preselected for that seat has long been surrounded by controversy.

Now, for the first time, first hand accounts of what happened have emerged, in the form of statutory declarations.

What they describe is a campaign, led by Morrison, to discredit a political rival based on his race and false rumours about his religion.

What they describe is a campaign, led by Morrison, to discredit a political rival based on his ethnic background and false rumours about his religion.

Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Middleton, who broke the story, on what really happened and what it tells us about Scott Morrison as a politician.

It’s Wednesday, April 6.

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RUBY:

Karen, let’s go back to where this story begins, which is 2007 when Scott Morrison was looking for a seat to get into parliament. He settled on the seat of Cook. Can you tell me a little bit about the seat?

KAREN:

Yes the seat of Cook is in the Sutherland Shire or the Shire, as people from there like to call it in South Sydney.

Archival Tape -- Documentary:

“The Shire's is sort of almost like a big village and people in the Shire, we've had probably not too much invasion from the outside. And we've had this racial problem has been something that has been stepping up for a number of years.”

KAREN:

And it's quite a conservative electorate

Archival Tape -- Documentary:

“You know, it's just the people from Sutherland Shire And sure, they got something against us.. and how they say, we want our beach back there saying this isn't your beach will stop the beach either.”

KAREN:

It's also the electorate where back in 2005, the now notorious Cronulla riots had taken place.

Archival Tape -- Documentary:

“It was a disastrous day to be Lebanese and to go to the beach. An incendiary combination of booze, twisted nationalism and naked racism.”

KAREN:

Between some of the local people involved in the sort of surf culture in Cronulla and some Lebanese Australians who'd come in from Western Sydney.

Archival Tape -- Documentary:

“Text messages had been circulating, which could leave no one in any doubt as to the intention of the day and the sentiments of those organising it. One message read Every F-ing Aussie in the Shire, get down the North Cronulla to help support Lebanon while bashing day. They bring your mates down and let's show them that this is our beach and they’re never welcome back.”

KAREN:

So there was some sensitivity in that electorate, in particular around issues to do with racial tensions or ethnic prejudices and the like.

Archival tape -- News:

“It was billed as the day Cronulla residents would take back the beaches, but it soon turned into a riot.”

Archival tape -- News:

“Their target, anyone of Middle Eastern appearance, who they claim have been harassing locals at the beach.”

Archival tape -- News:

“Young women caught up in the violence along with an ambulance, it was pelted with beer bottles for carrying Lebanese victims to hospital.”

RUBY:

Mm so that is the dynamic in the seat of Cook in 2005. So what happened next, when the seat came up forrr preselection going into the 2007 election?

KAREN:

Well the frontrunner in the contest was Michael Towke, who was of Lebanese Christian heritage. He's a Catholic Maronite. He was born in Sydney of a Lebanese background. A conservative member of the community had a pretty good CV. He had multiple degrees. He'd won a university prize. He was an upstanding member of the community.

He was up against, amongst other people. Scott Morrison, who had been the state director of the Liberal Party. And he ended up winning that first vote, 82 votes to Scott Morrison's eight.

But as soon as Michael Towke won that ballot, there were moves afoot to overturn that vote. And in the end, the New South Wales Liberal Party invalidated Michael Towke's victory. And then a number of things flowed from that that led to Scott Morrison being effectively installed.

RUBY:

Right. So Michael Towke actually won preselection for the seat of Cook in 2007 by quite a big margin, 82 votes to Scott Morrison's eight. Yet Scott Morrison ended up as the candidate. So how exactly did that happen, Karen?

KAREN:

So yes. What happened in between those two votes was that they started to be what was effectively shown to be a smear campaign against Michael Towke.

We heard a little bit of detail of that in recent years. Interesting coming from the Labor Party. Back in 2018, after Scott Morrison became Prime Minister, Sam Dastyari, who was a Labor senator who'd basically been forced out because of some of his connections with people in the Chinese community.

Archival Tape -- Sam Dastyari:

“I love who it’s former disgraced senator now, like the whole disgraced is former. Now new prime minister.”

Archival Tape -- Kyle:

“New prime minister. What do you know about this guy?”

Archival Tape -- Sam Dastyari:

“Now I'm slamming it on what I've got with me, which is the Scott Morrison dossier.”

Archival Tape -- Kyle:

“Ok now I asked you to put something together because we don’t know this guy from a bar of soap.”

KAREN:

He talked to on radio about how he'd been an operative in the Labor head office in New South Wales and he said members of the Liberal Party approached him and asked for a dirt file on Michael Towke. Now he alleges that they were connected to Scott Morrison. He made that allegation on the radio.

Archival Tape -- Sam Dastyari:

“Scott Morrison's lieutenants, and I'm sure it's Scott Morrison's knowledge turned to the Labor Party and asked them to prepare the dirt file on his political opponent. To be able to get rid of the guy and actually having disendorse this Liberal Party candidate.”

Archival Tape -- Kyle:

“Really?”

Archival Tape -- Sam Dastyari:

“I know this because I was the one who put the file together.”

KAREN:

He says it was because Michael Towke had at one point been a member of the Labor Party briefly that they were looking for dirt to spread around on Michael Towke after he had won the preselection.

Archival Tape -- Sam Dastyari:

“The way they weaponized it, they had decided. Scott Morrison was a really powerful guy in the Liberal Party used to be the state director of the Liberals. You know, he was he was a it was a big powerbroker in their party, the way they were able to use this information, the way they were able to weaponize it. I mean The PM only became a member of Parliament because he used the Labor Party to knock off his political internal opponents.”

KAREN:

What then ensued were a series of damaging newspaper reports alleging all kinds of activity that Michael Towke says he had not engaged in. And he then took a defamation action against the Daily Telegraph newspaper. It took a couple of years for that to be wound up, and the preselection matters were resolved well before that, but ultimately the newspaper settled that action.

In the meantime, the pressure had been immense on Michael Towke and his family.

Archival Tape -- Michael Towke:

“I'm just glad and my family more so glad that this thing is finally over and we can actually have some closure on it. And, you know, to the allegations, you know, they were intended to demonise and obviously defame me.”

KAREN:

And he ended up signing an agreement with the New South Wales Liberal Party director, Graham Gesicki, to the effect that the Liberal Party would make a statement that he was a fit and proper person and a reasonable candidate.

And effectively saying that these things that were being put around about him were untrue. But in return for that, he was to promise that he was not going to be a candidate. He effectively had to withdraw from the contest.

Archival Tape -- Michael Towke:

“Look, mate, I've moved on from that. I moved on immediately after I withdrew my candidacy and supported the new candidate. I've got a job in the telecommunications industry as an engineer.”

KAREN:

And he has said since that he was so burnt by the whole exercise and the things that he alleges were said about him to try and dissuade people from voting for him, that he stepped away and he's never been in representative politics since.

RUBY:

Hmm. And Karen, this all happened 15 years ago now. So can you tell me how and why this is all coming up now?

KAREN:

So this came up again last week when liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells had a very angry spray in the parliament late on budget night, just a couple of hours after the budget was unveiled.

Archival Tape -- Deputy president:

“Senator Fierravanti-Wells.”

Archival Tape -- Concetta Fierravanti-Wells:

“Mr acting deputy president given the events and outcomes of the dodgy preselection.”

KAREN:

She got up and used parliamentary privilege to make a very damaging speech about Scott Morrison. Now she is an angry person at the moment because she has been relegated in her preselection to an unwinnable position on the Senate ticket. Now, Scott Morrison and Senator Fioravante will have no love lost between them. They are not friends.

Archival Tape -- Concetta Fierravanti-Wells:

“Many in this place would be aware of the history I've had with Scott Morrison. Let me give some clarity and context to that history so there can be no misunderstanding.”

KAREN:

And he's been trying to see her off for some time because she's been a thorn in his side. Very outspoken and critical of him. And no less so in that speech.

Archival Tape -- Concetta Fierravanti-Wells:

“In order to understand the man, it is best to look at his past actions… He is adept at running with the foxes in hunting with the hounds, lacking the moral compass and having no conscience.”

KAREN:

And during her speech on Tuesday night, which was really seen as getting back at Scott Morrison for this action, she called him a bully. She said he wasn't fit to be prime minister.

She also attacked his political lieutenant, Alex Hawke, who was a minister and a factional ally of Scott Morrison and criticised both of them. And she included one line in which she said that statutory declarations had been signed by a number of people in the wake of that 2007 preselection.

Archival Tape -- Concetta Fierravanti-Wells:

“I'm advised that there are several statutory declarations to attest to racial comments made by Morrison at the time that we can't have a Lebanese person in Cook.”

KAREN:

to the effect that Scott Morrison had tried to use Michael Towkes Lebanese heritage against him to encourage people that they shouldn't vote for him in that seat at that time.

Archival Tape -- Concetta Fierravanti-Wells:

“Morrison and his cronies went to Sam Dastyari to get dirt on Towke… This dossier of anecdotes was weaponised and leaked to the media to the point where Towke’s reputation was destroyed…. Since then, Morrison has never faced a preselection.”

KAREN:

So that is where this is all re-emerged, all of a sudden.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Karen, as part of this story you have published for the first time details of the statutory declarations outlining what happened in Scott Morrison’s preselection and how he allegedly used race and religion to undermine his rival. Can you tell me more about what is in those documents?

KAREN:

So I understand there to be several. One of them was signed by Michael Towke himself, which was detailing what people had told him Scott Morrison had allegedly said to them, and I had outlined things they said had been a part of conversations they'd had with Scott Morrison.

They alleged that Scott Morrison had brought up Michael Towke’s Lebanese heritage and had also said that there were rumours that Michael Towke was a Muslim, that he'd been associated with sort of criminal activities and engaged in improper behaviours.

Michael Towke says all of these allegations were untrue, but he he saw them as an attempt to smear his name and undermine his attempts to be preselected. So those kinds of things were included in Michael Towke’s, Statutory Declaration

And the other key stat dec that we're aware of is one from a man called Scott Chapman, who was one of the preselectors at the time. And so Michael Towke and Scott Chapman signed these statutory declarations to put down on paper in a legally enforceable form what they say happened.

RUBY:

Hmm. Okay. And so what has the response been like, Karen since you made public some of the contents of these statutory declarations? What has Scott Morrison said, what others said about all of it?

KAREN:

Scott Morrison has denied that he ever said any of these things.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison:

“These are quite malicious and bitter slurs, which are deeply offensive and I reject them out absolutely.”

KAREN:

And he's raised questions about the motivations of the people who've raised them. He points to Senator Fierravanti-Wells defeat at her preselection and says that she would be disappointed and that that might be why she was speaking out against him.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison:

“Ah well look I understand that Connie was disappointed that as 500 members of the Liberal party came to select our candidates for the senate at the next election that she was unsuccessful.”

KAREN:

He's rejected her allegations that he's a bully, all the things that she has said and the specific allegations about him raising issues of Michael Towke’s Lebanese heritage.

Archival Tape -- Scott Morrison:

“I think I’ve been very clear, I absolutely reject that as malicious slurs.”

KAREN:

But others have come out and sort of endorsed what Senator Fierravanti-Wells has said. Senator Pauline Hanson from One Nation said that she also thinks that Scott Morrison is a bully.

Archival Tape -- Pauline Hanson:

“And he is a bully, and I back the senator up completely with that. He is a bully because I have experienced myself.”

KAREN:

Senator Jacqui Lambie has said similar things. She also thinks that Scott Morrison is a bully

Archival Tape -- Jacqui Lambie:

“There are as many of us females here that have had to be in and sit with Scott Morrison. I can tell you what is probably one of the most unpleasant man I've ever had to sit in front of. He is a bully. And that's the truth of the matter. And go on Connie for calling him out.”

KAREN:

But other people equally have come out and dismissed the sorts of things that have been said Dr Jamal Rifi, a very well respected medical practitioner. And Danny Abdallah, both of whom have friendships with Scott Morrison have said that these allegations don't accord with their knowledge of him.

So it's a complicated web here and people are taking sides. But at the moment, it's the word of those who've signed legal documents to say what they argue happened versus the prime minister, who says he's willing to sign a statutory declaration, but only if the matter goes before a court. He's been asked if he would sign it without going to court, and his office has declined.

RUBY:

Okay. And Karen, you've been working on this story for years. Having finally been able to publish some of this. I wonder what you think this all means for Scott Morrison now, because it sort of it sounds like a case of his past catching up with him. So why now?

KAREN:

Well, it's bad timing for sure. He's cast aspersions on the timing. He's raised questions about why these things would come out now. I guess, you know, you need to ask the people who'd been willing to speak, but I think they've probably sensed that Scott Morrison is not as popular as he once was. Perhaps they feel he's less powerful. Perhaps they have more courage. Perhaps they've decided for their own reasons that in this close proximity to an election, it's a good time to talk about it. Whatever the collective motivations are, the timing is very poor for Scott Morrison. He's literally about to call an election, and he would really have not wanted this to come out at this point.

Thanks, Ruby.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today,

NSW has reported over 19 thousand new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, but figures are likely to be “at least 50 per cent higher” according to authorities.

The state's health minister Brad Hazzard said that public health officials believe it's a “big underestimate,” because many people are not reporting their positive cases.

In Victoria, the latest wave of Covid-19 is likely to peak sometime this month. Victoria recorded 12,007 new infections yesterday, the highest single-day total for the state since early February.

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And NSW Liberal Catherine Cusak has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of quote - “self-serving, ruthless bullying”. The sitting Liberal said she could not vote for the party at the next election.

Two weeks ago Cusak announced her resignation from the Legislative Council as a protest over the federal government's flood relief response, saying she was appalled at how the process had been politicised.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am, see you tomorrow.