Prime Minister Anthony Albanese teases an inquiry into Scott Morrison’s actions

A document that could mark a new turn in a scandal that has rocked Canberra is about to land on Anthony Albanese‘s desk.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated that an inquiry could be launched after the bombshell news that his predecessor Scott Morrison secretly swore himself into five ministries.

Mr Morrison appointed himself to the ministerial portfolios of health, finance, home affairs, treasury, and industry, science, energy, and resources between March 2020 and May 2021.

The former prime minister has since defended his actions and argued he needed the “emergency powers” in case of “extreme situations” during the height of Covid.

Legal advice will be delivered by the solicitor-general on Monday, outlining what happened, how it occurred and if there will be any legal repercussions for Mr Morrison.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison secretly held five ministerial portfolios. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire

But Mr Albanese has indicated that even if Mr Morrison’s actions are found to be legal, he would look to do an inquiry or deliver further reforms so “something like this can never happen again”.

“I’m not going to pre-empt the advice that we receive, but very clearly there’s a need for proper scrutiny of what occurred here,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“This was an undermining of our parliamentary democracy and what the Solicitor General will advise on is of course the legal issues.

“There’s separate questions about the functioning of our democracy, about conventions and whether any conventions have been overturned, and whether there’s a need for any reforms required to ensure that something like this can never happen again.”

Mr Albanese said while there was no indication that Mr Morrison had done anything illegal, he described what the former Prime Minister did as “beyond” comprehension.

“I haven’t seen yet a suggestion that anything illegal has happened but what is very clear is that conventions have been overturned completely and ignored, and the Westminster system of our democracy has been undermined by the decisions that were made by the former prime minister,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has continually slammed Scott Morrison’s actions. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“It’s beyond my comprehension how this could occur, not only how it actually eventuated but even how would you even think of doing such a measure.”

It emerged earlier in the week that Mr Morrison signed off on $828m worth of industry grants while he was acting as industry minister.

Mr Albanese said the government would honour all the contracts signed during that period, but would judge other deals or agreements “on their merits”.

“The Industry Department will honour all contracts that have been entered into,” he said.

“There are a range of these programs that were announced but not contracted, including during the election campaign, and the department is examining the merits of them.

“Those decisions will be made very shortly after advice from the department.”

Mr Albanese refused to comment on Mr Morrison’s decision to block a Pep-11 gas and oil exploration licence on NSW’s coast using his ministerial resources powers, as the matter was before the courts.

Mr Albanese also touched on the prospect of a Royal Commission into Australia’s Covid pandemic response, an idea he teased earlier in the week.

He said a prospective Royal Commission would primarily focus on the federal government, but it would also look at state governments.

“Primarily it would be about the federal government, that’s what we have responsibility for,” Mr Albanese said.

“But the interaction between the different levels of government of course were critical to the response to the Covid pandemic.

“The response of various government agencies, how it operated, the different jurisdictions, and it exposed some of the issues with our federation, it can often be quite difficult with overlapping responsibilities.

“I couldn’t envisage a circumstance where after you had a once in a century global pandemic and an extraordinary response with the largest economic stimulus that we’ve ever seen at any time in Australia, that you would just move on and not have an examination of what went well, how things could be improved, and what lessons could be learnt from it.”

Mr Albanese did not give a time frame for when this Royal Commission could happen, but said he would “want to do something as soon as practicable”.

Originally published as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese teases an inquiry into Scott Morrison’s actions