Governor-General: Not my job to tell anyone about Morrison’s secret ministries

Governor-General David Hurley has declared he did nothing wrong in appointing Scott Morrison to five ministerial portfolios when he was prime minister and insisted it was not his job to inform the cabinet or the public of the process.

In a statement late on Wednesday, after Morrison invoked the “unprecedented” nature of the pandemic as justification for assuming secret co-control of senior ministries, Hurley defended his role in the process, saying he acted on the advice of the government of the day and “had no reason to believe” the appointments would not be communicated.

Then-prime minister Scott Morrison with Governor-General David Hurley in 2019.Credit: Getty

In an extraordinary hour-long press conference at Sydney’s Commonwealth Government Offices, Morrison said he did not disclose his emergency powers for fear of undermining his ministers.

“I did not want any of my ministers to be going about their daily business any different to what they were doing before,” Morrison said.

“I was concerned that these issues could have been misconstrued and misunderstood and undermine the confidence of ministers in the performance of their duties at that time, and I did not consider that to be in the country’s interest.”

A spokesperson for the governor-general released a statement that could be interpreted as a veiled criticism of Morrison, saying any questions about secrecy were a matter for the previous government.

“It is not the responsibility of the governor-general to advise the broader ministry or parliament (or public) of administrative changes of this nature. The governor-general had no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated.”

Morrison’s lengthy defence of his secret portfolios was met with a furious response from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who criticised his predecessor as “evasive, he was defensive, he was passive-aggressive and he was self-serving”.

The former prime minister has alienated and infuriated the Coalition, as MPs brace for weeks of political pain, including the growing prospect of a censure motion when parliament returns next month.

But the party has stopped short of joining calls for him to quit parliament amid fears the safe seat of Cook could be lost in a byelection.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton toughened his criticism of the former prime minister on Wednesday, stating “what he did clearly was the wrong thing” and promising to work with Albanese on a legal solution to ensure the extraordinary move to be secretly sworn in to extra portfolios could never be repeated.

Many of Morrison’s colleagues - including the opposition leader - had urged him to deal with the issue quickly and publicly as soon as Monday after the appointments were revealed.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg remains furious with the former prime minister according to colleagues, with one stating that if the secret appointments had become public in 2021 – when moderate MPs approached Frydenberg about a possible challenge, as revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age – he may have considered it seriously.

Morrison’s closest political ally and fellow member of the parliamentary prayer group, Stuart Robert, also distanced himself, saying it had been “unwise” for the former leader not to inform cabinet of his actions, but there was no need for him to resign.

“My assessment is if Scott Morrison had brought this to cabinet, colleagues would have said it’s not needed,” he told Sky News.

Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer also stopped short of calling on Morrison to resign, but reflected on the response he gave to a reporter on Monday that he didn’t follow day-to-day politics.

“If he doesn’t want to do day-to-day politics any more, then he needs to think about why he’s still there,” she said.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Morrison had been jointly appointed to oversee five departments – health, finance, home affairs, treasury, and industry, science, energy and resources – during 2020 and 2021 without the knowledge of most of his senior ministers, including some whose responsibilities he took on.

Morrison confirmed that then-attorney-general Christian Porter advised on the legal process for acquiring extra ministerial powers, but Porter was not told when his own industry portfolio was also co-opted by the then-prime minister in May 2021.

Asked whether any members of his cabinet had been aware he had added the senior ministries of Treasury and Home Affairs to his duties in May 2021, Morrison said “no” but revealed bureaucrats in his office were aware of the appointments.

He said there was a “clear expectation” in the mind of the public, media and opposition “that I, as prime minister, was responsible pretty much for every single thing that was going on”.

Former prime minister John Howard said on Tuesday that Morrison should not resign from Cook as it was not in the Liberal Party’s interests to have a by-election, a view confirmed by three Liberal MPs who spoke to the Herald and the Age anonymously.

One MP, who asked not to be named, said he was stunned by the revelations from the upcoming book Plagued: “this was supposed to be the good book for Morrison, [author and Herald and Age columnist] Niki Savva’s book hasn’t come out yet”.

But the MP said there was no real support for a byelection as the Liberals could lose the seat of Cook. “I strongly disapprove of what he did but there is no connection with his ongoing role as member for Cook, he shouldn’t quit. But this will smash his legacy, it is a significant black mark.”

Former Nationals’ cabinet ministers Bridget McKenzie and Darren Chester both supported Dutton working with Albanese to change the rules and stop secret ministerial appointments from being made again.

Chester stopped short of calling for Morrison to resign but said “my concern is with the lack of transparency around the appointments and in my view the parliament and the Australian people should have been fully informed about the new ministerial arrangements when they were made”.

McKenzie said: “the former prime minister had made a public explanation, the current prime minister is seeking legal advice, they are both appropriate actions given the extraordinary revelations.”

Morrison confirmed he did not receive any extra pay for his five extra portfolios.

He expressed regret at offence he may have caused his colleagues, but stopped short of an apology to voters - an omission that was seized on by the prime minister.

“How about an apology to the Australian people? The Australian people went to an election not knowing that any of this had occurred, not knowing that there was a shadow government operating ... without transparency,” Albanese said.

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