Scott Morrison claims he never referred to people in Western Australia as “cave people”, but Premier Mark McGowan has dodged questions about the issue during their joint press conference.
The Prime Minister has been in WA this week – for the first time in more than 200 days largely due to the state’s hard border – boasting about the fairer GST deal he got for WA and making a range of other promises as he went into unofficial election mode.
But during a heated press conference on Thursday, Mr Morrison was grilled about comments he had made in August last year when he appeared to liken WA to cavemen.
He had been discussing Covid-19 vaccination rates when he said it was “absurd” for any state to think they could protect themselves from the Delta strain forever.
“Now it’s like that movie The Croods,” he told the Today show, in reference to the children’s film about cavemen.
“Some wanted to stay in the cave and the young girl wanted to deal with the challenges of living in a different world. Covid is a different world … we can’t stay in the cave.”
His comments caused widespread outrage in WA, but on Thursday he insisted he was never referring to the state specifically.
“I was never referring to WA on that occasion,” he said.
When a reporter said he had labelled WA people as The Croods, he said: “No I didn’t actually. I wasn’t referring to WA at all, at all. So I can only disagree with the presumption of your question.”
Asked if WA had overreacted to the Covid-19 threat, he said no.
“I think WA has travelled its own path and rightly, and the results speak for themselves,” he said.
Further asked about WA’s hard border – which the federal government was initially against and even supported billionaire Clive Palmer in his legal challenge before dropping out – Mr Morrison said it was an “early lesson” for his government during the pandemic.
“Did the Premier convince me to change my mind? Yes, he did,” he said.
It was Mr McGowan’s first media appearance since his self-imposed quarantine upon returning to WA from NSW where he was forced to give evidence in-person at his defamation trial involving Mr Palmer.
“It’s great to experience some vitamin D in my system once again. I haven’t had vitamin D for a week or so,” he joked.
“Welcome to the Prime Minister. I can’t help but feel partially responsible for his absence for the last 200 or 300 days.”
Asked about The Croods comment, Mr McGowan said: “Everyone knows my views on those things. I’m not going to engage in some sort of political attacks today. It’s not appropriate that I do that.”
Mr McGowan told reporters they could ask him on another day.
“I’m not going to get into that sort of political tit for tat,” he said.
At the time, the Premier said Mr Morrison’s comments were “an odd thing to say”.
“Sometimes people are too focused on where they are and they don’t realise that outside of NSW it’s a very different situation. Australia is bigger than just NSW,” he said.
“We are not living in caves – we are living a normal life.”
Asked on Thursday whether he liked Mr Morrison, Mr McGowan said: “All my views are known, we get on fine, we’re very professional.”
Mr McGowan was also questioned about appearing at a press conference alongside Mr Morrison, but he insisted it was part of politics to make budget announcements with the federal government.
“When the election is called, of course, I will be campaigning for and with Anthony Albanese,” he said.
Mr McGowan rejected the suggestion that Mr Albanese would be “annoyed”, saying he was a “very professional person”.
“He understands the business of government fully and that’s what governments do,” the Premier said.
“So I don’t expect that he would have any difficulty with that.
“Obviously, I willxjmtzyw be campaigning with Anthony Albanese in the federal election campaign.”
