Scott Morrison Slammed For Taking Secret Trip During G7 Summit To Explore His Family History

Scott Morrison is facing harsh criticism for taking a secret break during the G7 Summit in the UK to explore his family's roots.

Australia's borders have been shut for more than a year now due to the coronavirus pandemic and Aussies have been desperate to get overseas and have a holiday.

While the Prime Minister has been doing a lot of work while in Britain for the Summit, many have slammed him for using the trip to carry out personal affairs.

The media that has been tracing his every step weren't informed that Mr Morrison would going to St Keverne, a small village 45 minutes south of the G7 summit site in Cornwall.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the quick stop off was in the schedule for two weeks, however, no journalist or photographer was invited to join and the PM's own photographer hasn't posted anything about it despite being there.

It was only when a local newspaper did an article on Scott Morrison looking into his family history that anyone knew he'd taken time out of his busy schedule.

Karen Richards from the St-Keverne Local History Society was commissioned to look into Mr Morrison's family history and asked to research his fifth great-grandfather, William Roberts. Mr Roberts was sent to Australia as part of the First Fleet for stealing 5½ pounds of yarn in 1786.

She told Cornwall Live that she had known about the trip for two weeks but wasn't able to say anything about it, not even to Mr Roberts' living relatives.

The trip has understandably ruffled a few feathers considering many people haven't been able to do things like this in months and critics believe the optics on this are pretty bad. But when speaking to 2GB Radio, the Prime Minister doesn't believe his visit to his heritage is a double standard.

"We had to land north of London, as opposed to landing down there in Cornwall, because of the fog," Mr Morrison said.

"And we stopped off along the way. We had some lunch and stopped off in another location on the way.

"And after the G7, on the way to the airport, we stopped in another place, which just happens to be where my fifth great-grandfather was from.

"I think it was pretty innocent and I think that's massively overstating it."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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