Prime Minister Scott Morrison is facing more criticism for side trips on his recent journey to Britain to be on the sidelines at the G7 – this time for a secret tour to explore his family history.
It has emerged that Mr Morrison – who sparked outrage on social media last week for visits to several Cornish pubs while in Britain – also ducked off to explore his convict roots.
The extracurricular journeys all came despite the PM repeatedly publicly arguing that Britain remains too risky a destination for Australian travellers.
Last Sunday’s trip to a village about 45 minutes away from the G7 summit in Carbis Bay was never disclosed to the media, despite being on Mr Morrison’s agenda for a fortnight. It has sparked more anger among Australians stranded abroad.
The Nine newspapers are reporting that Mr Morrison headed off to St Keverne after delivering a speech on the G7’s last day. He had a police escort on the way to the village, where his fifth great-grandfather, William Roberts, was born.
Mr Roberts was sent to Australia as part of the First Fleet.
In St Keverne, Mr Morrison met Karen Richards from the local historic society. She had been asked to research his family history and find the graves of relatives.
“I had known of his visit for about a fortnight but was unable to tell anyone about it – not even others who are also related to William Roberts that are still living and working in the village today,” Ms Richards wrote in a post on the Cornwall Live website at the weekend.
Ms Richards told the Nine papers that the graves of the PM’s sixth-great grandparents John and Jane Roberts could not be found. Mr Morrison instead laid flowers on a more distant relative’s grave.
Kelsey May, an administrator of the Facebook group Aussies Stranded in the UK, said she understood Mr Morrison needed to travel to the G7.
“But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt people to see him then have personal time, as convenient as it might have been,” she said.
On Monday, Mr Morrison defended tracing his Cornish family roots and insisted Australians would not see the trip as a double standard.
“It was pretty innocent … that’s massively overstating it,” he told 2GB radio.
Mr Morrison said he “certainly hoped” Australians would be able to travel overseas by next Christmas.
He repeated his view that the COVID situation in Europe during its summer would help determine when Australia reopened its borders.
Last week, it emerged Mr Morrison and his entourage also visited several Cornish pubs while they were in the area. That drew a rapid, and angry, pile-on from Australians.
“Ahhh I’d love to be drinking in the pub with my UK family, who I’ve not seen in three years. Oh wait, I’m in Australia and we’re trapped here and told of COVID-ravaged UK/ poor quarantine systems,” wrote one Facebook user under a picture posted by the Jamaica Inn of the PM’s visit.
Two other local inns – The Old Quay House and Three Tuns Cornwall – also posted of their excitement to host the Australian contingent.
Three Tuns is in St Keverne, and is where the group lunched after the graveyard visit.
“Contrary to the idea that visiting the Three Tuns was part of a pub crawl, he had come straight from a meeting and was on his way to another event,” Ms Richards wrote.
-with AAP
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