ANOTHER Liberal publicly trashes Scott Morrison ahead of federal election
Another Liberal party member has publicly excoriated Scott Morrison for being a "bully" and lacking a moral compass as colleagues continue to come out against the prime minister's behaviour.
NSW Liberal Catherine Cusack has described Mr Morrison as a "ruthless and self-serving" man who has trashed the party's values and hates people standing up to him.
In an extraordinary public take-down, Ms Cusack, a member of the NSW Legislative Council, claimed the PM has politicised flood relief in NSW and caused his own personal vendettas to spill out into public policy.
"To see the self-serving ruthless bullying that has increased inside the Liberal party spill over into public policy, and the poorest most vulnerable Australians who lost everything in the floods are the targets of this outrageous abuse of morality and power is simply intolerable," she wrote in The Guardian overnight.
Speaking to ABC radio on Tuesday morning, Ms Cusack accused Mr Morrison of effectively bullying flood victims through politicising flood relief – an issue which she says has prompted her to leave politics.
Mr Morrison has been at the centre of factional wars inside the state branch of the NSW Liberal party over candidates for the upcoming federal election, with the PM accused of trying to override the usual grassroots system.
"He is now using his role as prime minister to bully the NSW government and flood victims because he's not getting his way," she claimed.
Ms Cusack said he was doing this through political appointments to flood resilience agencies, controlling the purse strings and presiding over guidelines that initially excluded certain electorates from extra payments.
"My speaking out about Scott Morrison, he brings this on himself by playing games with flood funding," she said.
"It's unbelievable."
Cusack says she won't vote for her party at federal election
When asked on the ABC what it would take for her to vote for her own party and effectively the prime minister in the upcoming federal election, Ms Cusack didn't mince her words.
"I can't vote for Scott Morrison full stop at the next federal election," she said.
It comes less than a week after outgoing Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells delivered a scathing assessment of Scott Morrison on the floor of parliament, saying he lacked a conscious, had no moral compass and was "not fit to be prime minister".
"I completely endorse that assessment," Ms Cusack, who is from a different Liberal Party faction to Ms Fierravanti-Wells, told the ABC.
With Mr Morrison due to call the election this week, the list of colleagues from his own side of politics who are willingly to disparage his character continues to grow.
The latest attack comes after Barnaby Joyce apologised for privately labelling Mr Morrison a "hypocrite" and a "liar", while leaked text messages between former Liberal premier Gladys Berejiklian and an unnamed Liberal minister referred to the prime minister as a "complete psycho" and a "fraud".
Mr Morrison's office has been contacted for comment.
He previously said a federal election will be held in mid-May.
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