Australian PM speaks to parliament on video link

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Scott Morrison became Australia’s first leader on Monday to make an appearance before parliament by video link, as he spends time in quarantine following a recent trip to Japan. While not the first such session by a world leader, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson having addressed parliament online, Morrison spoke to Australian lawmakers on a big screen television placed at the back of the House of Representatives. Morrison, who last week became the first world leader to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, spoke on the coronavirus, which Australia has largely contained, and aspects of the country’s economic recovery. “Our relative success here in Australia sometimes shields us from the sheer scale of the devastation that has occurred elsewhere,” he said in comments that had been delayed a few minutes by technical issues.