Our embattled prime minister might be feeling a little squeamish about the Murdoch heir’s surprise visit to the country.
No surprise that Scott Morrison was a touch discombobulated at yesterday’s latest stab at a reset on gender politics. He had a big known-unknown swirling around in his head: what is Lachlan Murdoch doing in Australia?
Fond as the Los Angeles-based billionaire Murdochs may be of their Australian ancestral homeland, it raised eyebrows when the Nine papers reported at the weekend that Lachlan and his immediate family was quarantining in the country, presumably at the family farm near Yass, in preparation for a lengthy stay.
Murdoch visits today are seen in Australian politics much as mediaeval astrologers saw the appearances of comets: they portend the death of kings. The last big visit was in August 2018 when Lachlan accompanied Rupert for a trip that coincided with the fall of Malcolm Turnbull and the rise of Morrison. (Turnbull subsequently fingered the Murdochs for triggering the spill.)
