Politics

‘He’s sensitive’: Scott Morrison’s wife reveals he cried over detention centres

Feb 18, 2019

The prime minister's wife gave her first solo interview since Scott Morrison became prime minister. Source: Twitter/Nine News Sydney.

It has been six months since her husband took over from Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister following two leadership spills in the Liberal party room, now Jenny Morrison has opened up on what life is like as the ‘first lady’ of Australia in her first solo interview.

Speaking exclusively to Nine Honey, the mother-of-two discussed her husband’s politics, including his legacy as the hard-lined Immigration Minister, revealing he often asks her opinion on policy to get a “layperson’s point of view”, however she added that they’re not always on the same page.

When asked if it’s true that her husband once cried on his knees over the issue of detention centres, Jenny said “that’s true”, adding: “He’s sensitive about issues. I think people have one view of him but he never took any of those decisions lightly.

“It might seem like he’s gung-ho, but you need someone tenacious sometimes to hold the line.”

Jenny, who met the prime minister at church when they were both just 12 years old and began dating four years later, also recalled hosting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Kirribilli House, where she now lives with Scott and their two daughters, Abbey, 11, and Lily, nine.

The royal couple visited the prime minister’s official residence, in the affluent Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, during their first overseas tour as a married couple in October last year.

“When I had to greet them and walk them in I was like ‘Oh my goodness’,” Jenny said. “But they are so lovely. He’s very charming and he’s quite good looking, he has very beautiful eyes. Even better in real life.

“Meghan is just stunning, she’s tiny, she’s got little tiny ankles and waist. But she’s very, very sweet. We had a big chat. I said ‘I haven’t been here long. You know we’ve only been here, whatever it was at that time, four weeks, so this is all new to me’, and she said ‘Oh tell me about it, it’s new for me too’.”

She could be described as our accidental ‘First Lady’ – Jenny Morrison revealing she was as shocked as anyone at her husband’s sudden elevation to Prime Minister. @alicialoxley #9News pic.twitter.com/AxZJ1NtjeZ

— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) February 17, 2019

The last time Jenny spoke publicly was in September, immediately following her husband’s dramatic rise from treasurer to leader of the Liberal Party.

She appeared alongside her husband on Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, as the pair discussed the transition from life as the wife of the nation’s treasurer, to becoming the first lady of Australia.

Grimshaw asked Jenny, who married Scott at the age of 21, if she was happy that her husband had landed the top job – having beaten off competition from former foreign minister Julie Bishop and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton – to which she replied that she was “proud” of the father of her children, but often wished he had a regular job.

“I’m very proud of Scott,” Jenny said. “And it’s fantastic that he could actually be prime minister but, yeah, sometimes I just wish he was a plumber or something. Or even a builder because I’ve got doors falling off.”