Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologises for assuming five secret portfolios amid calls to resign
Scott Morrison concedes his secret appointments to five portfolios were “unnecessary” amid calls for him to resign as Karen Andrews and former deputy Josh Frydenberg say they were never told their roles secretly assumed.
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Former PM Scott Morrison has apologised for his secret appointments to portfolios outside his own of PM, apologising to colleagues.
Mr Morrison took to Facebook to defend his decisions as former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews called for him to resign from parliament, saying she was “beyond disappointed” after explosive revelations he had been secretly appointed to five portfolios other than his own.
Neither Ms Andrews, nor former treasurer John Frydenberg was ever informed the former PM had himself sworn into their roles, the pair has revealed.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday confirmed Mr Morrison, aside from the Health, Finance and Resources portfolios, had also been given power over Home Affairs and Treasury in an “extraordinary and unprecedented trashing” of Australia’s democracy.
In his Facebook post defending his actions, Mr Morrison said the health, finance, treasury and home affairs arrangements were in place “as a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ safeguard’” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He acknowledged his decision to swear himself in to oversee the Department of Industry, Energy and Resources was undertaken “for separate reasons”.
“The use of the powers by a prime minister to exercise authority to administer departments has clearly caused concern. I regret this, but acted in good faith in a crisis,” he wrote.
“I used such powers on one occasion only. I did not seek to interfere with ministers in the conduct of their portfolio as there were no circumstances that warranted their use, except in the case of the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources which I have explained.”
‘HE NEEDS TO RESIGN’
Ms Andrews, now the Opposition Home Affairs spokeswoman, confirmed she found out Mr Morrison had the power to directly undermine her in her own portfolio as it was being reported in the media on Tuesday.
“While I was clearly starting to wonder considering what was unfolding, I had certainly not been told by anyone that the former Prime Minister had been sworn into my portfolio,” she said.
“I was given absolutely no knowledge that was what had happened.
“I am beyond disappointed with these actions.”
Ms Andrews said the move by Mr Morrison was “unacceptable on so many levels”, including the contempt with which he treated his cabinet ministers, the circumvention of bureaucracy, and “most importantly” the way he had treated Australians.
Mr Frydenberg — the former treasurer and Morrison’s deputy — was similarly in the dark, The Australian newspaper reports.
Nor was Mr Frydenberg informed that Mr Morrison had himself also sworn in as finance minister from March 2020.
Ms Andrews said the revelations “diminish Scott Morrison, it diminishes his government”.
“I actually think Scott Morrison needs to resign.
“I think it is now no longer acceptable for him to remain a parliamentarian if this is the level of disregard he has for the Australian public.”
Ms Andrews said “there may well” have been good reasons why he wanted to be able to have control of the Finance and Health portfolios amid a pandemic.
“Where it became unacceptable is where he took that action unilaterally, without going through the cabinet process, without extending the courtesy to (inform his ministers),” she said.
Ms Andrews said this was an “incredibly significant issue” of transparency.
She said she was not yet sure if Mr Morrison had taken any decisions in her portfolio without her knowledge, but said nothing would surprise her.
“If he was concerned about anything he should have spoken to me about it,” Ms Andrews said.
Asked if Mr Morrison’s response to the scandal had been up to scratch so far, Ms Andrews said what she had heard from him was “weak and implausible”.
ABBOTT, DUTTON WON’T CALL ON MORRISON TO QUIT
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has described Scott Morrison’s decision to assume control of five ministries as “unusual” and “strange”.
Mr Abbott was asked about the saga after he gave a speech to the Henry Jackson Society in London on Tuesday, and said while he wouldn’t condemn Mr Morrison’s actions given the “times were unusual” during the pandemic, he said they were “unusual, unorthodox and strange”.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Peter Dutton says he won’t call on Mr Morrison to quit, and said he too was kept in the dark.
“There’s bigger issues that families of Australia are dealing with at the moment,” said the Liberal leader.
“I think frankly, it’s time for cooler heads to prevail. The Prime Minister’s come out of his holiday swinging and obviously this is an issue he’ll get his teeth into.”
“The Prime Minister is no longer the opposition leader, he’s the Prime Minister whose job is to lead this country and normally these sort of attacks, these individual attacks on members of parliament are on the other side … the Prime Minister has rolled his sleeves up on this and he sees a political advantage but at the time he’s concentrating on this, he’s not explaining to the Australian public how they are going to be able to pay their bills.”
“They’re worried under this government that the bad situation is being made worse by the slamming government.”
Mr Dutton said the greatest concern for Australians in his mind was not the Prime Minister’s appointments during the pandemic, but the current price of living costs. People are really struggling,” he said.
The Opposition Leader also said he had texted the former Prime Minister on Monday and revealed he was not aware of any of the appointments revealed on Tuesday by Prime Minister Albanese.
“I think we should respect that process and see what the Prime Minister will advise,” said Mr Dutton. This comes as senior liberal leader Karen Andrews called on Mr Morrison to resign on Tuesday afternoon.
‘TRASHING OF GOVERNMENT’
Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed Mr Morrison was appointed to five portfolios in addition to his role as Prime Minister during the pandemic, in what he has called “an extraordinary trashing of government.”
“Today I have been informed by the department that between March 2020 and May 2021, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was appointed to five additional portfolios in addition to his appointment as head of the Prime Minister cabinet,” said Mr Albanese on Tuesday morning.
“He was appointed as Minister to the Department of Health on the 14th of March 2020, the Department of Finance on the 30th of March 2020, the Department of Home Affairs on the 16th of May 2021, the Department of the Treasury on the 6th of May 2021 and the Department of Industry Science, Energy and Resources on the 15th of April 2021.”
“It is completely extraordinary that these appointments were kept secret by the Morrison Government from the Australian people.”
The Prime Minister said he would be receiving a briefing and had sought advice from the Solicitor General which he is due to receive next Monday.
“I am seeking further advice as to the use of these extraordinary powers by Scott Morrison,” he said.
“This is a sad indictment of not just Mr Morrison but all those cabinet colleagues of his who sat back and allowed this to happen to undermine our democracy.
“I cannot conceive of how a cabinet allows that to happen. I cannot conceive of the way this Prime Minister consistently avoided scrutiny, these are serious issues.”
“Not just Mr Morrison, but others involved in this, need to be held to account.”
When asked whether he believed Mr Morrison was fit to continue to represent the people of Cook, Mr Albanese said: “Mr Morrison wrote in his speech where he said he didn’t have trust in government and it’s not surprising given that he knew the nature of the government he ran.”
“The people of Cook deserve to be represented by someone who is interested.”
On Tuesday morning, social services emerged as the fourth portfolio Scott Morrison jointly took control of during the pandemic, despite the former prime minister denying any knowledge of it happening.
At his press conference, Mr Albanese added Home Affairs and Treasury to the list.
An administrative arrangement order signed by Governor-general David Hurley on June 28 last year appears to show aspects of the social services portfolio were added to Mr Morrison’s responsibilities.
Asked if he had ever taken control of social services at any point, Mr Morrison told 2GB on Tuesday morning, “no not to my knowledge”.
But the former prime minister did not specifically deny the allegation, and instead repeatedly said he wasn’t aware of it and did not do anything in the portfolio.
“I certainly didn’t exercise anything,” he said.
“I don’t recall that, but as I said there were some administrative issues.
“I was just putting myself in a position to ensure that I could exercise my responsibilities, it’s as simple as that.”
Mr Morrison said there were a number of options considered at the time for “safeguard” reasons, but he did not remember these being actioned.
“If there is anything different to that (health, finances, resources) then I am happy for that to be disclosed … but none of them were used, they were only being used in specific circumstances,” he said.
“Sometimes when you look at things outside the tempest in the calm seas, people make their judgments for those who are actually in the middle of it and responsible for it at the time and the lives and livelihoods of many Australians.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he did not intend to “pass judgment” on the governor-general’s decision to sign the papers as he was acting on the advice of the government of the day.
“It is Scott Morrison that initiated this extraordinary and unprecedented action,” Mr Albanese told ABC.
“Blame for this lands squarely on the former government.”
Mr Albanese indicated there could be additional portfolios Mr Morrison swore himself into.
“There may well be more but I’ll have more to say about that when I’m properly briefed,” he said.
“There are checks and balances in this system and they’ve been deliberately undermined by the former prime minister.”
Meanwhile, another former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has slammed Mr Morrison after allegations he secretly assumed control of government portfolios during the pandemic.
“This is one of the most appalling things I’ve heard in our federal government,” Mr Turnbull said on the 7.30 program on Monday night.
“The idea that a prime minister would be sworn into other ministries secretly is incredible.
“I am astonished that Morrison thought he could do it … and I am even more astonished that the Governor-general was partied to it.
“This is sinister stuff. This is secret government.”
Mr Turnbull backed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in saying his predecessor had “trashed” parliamentary democracy.
“What Albanese said today about it is absolutely right. This is not something we associate with our form of democracy,” he said.
“It’s unusual and unprecedented enough for a prime minister to be sworn into another department … but doing things in this secret way.
“We the people are entitled to know who is governing our country. If all these things are being done secretly, that’s not a democracy.
“I can’t understand it.”
Senior ministers in the former Coalition government have no idea if Scott Morrison secretly assumed control of their portfolios during the pandemic in a “dictatorial” move condemned by Labor.
Even Opposition leader Peter Dutton could not definitively rule out whether his previous defence role was ever assumed by the former prime minister, responding “not to my knowledge” when asked on Monday.
Both sides of politics were left stunned by rolling revelations Mr Morrison systemically gave himself powers to jointly run the health, finance and resources portfolios — generally without telling the relevant minister — over the past two years.
Governor-General David Hurley has confirmed he had signed off administrative instruments giving Mr Morrison control of the different ministries “acting on the advice of the government of the day”.
But constitutional experts have raised concerns about the process — particularly the secrecy involved.
Former health minister Greg Hunt reportedly knew Mr Morrison had given himself portfolio responsibilities in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic emerged.
But sources have confirmed former finance minister Mathias Cormann was not aware Mr Morrison had also jointly taken on his role at the same time.
Former resources minister Keith Pitt also confirmed he did not initially know Mr Morrison had assumed his portfolio in 2021 — well after the initial emergency phase of the pandemic — until the position was used to veto a controversial offshore drilling project.
Acting as resources minister, Mr Morrison halted the PEP-11 gas drilling project off the coast of NSW, which was unpopular among locals and perceived by local Liberal MPs as a threat to their election chances.
“I was advised during 2021,” Mr Pitt said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his predecessor had “trashed” parliamentary democracy and confirmed he would seek advice about the legal ramifications of the move.
“Australians knew during the election campaign that I was running a shadow ministry,” he said.
“What they didn’t know was that Scott Morrison was running a shadow government, a shadow government that was operating in the shadows.”
Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison’s secrecy was “just weird”.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he was in disbelief almost none of Mr Morrison’s colleagues were aware of the situation.
“That’s an extraordinary state of affairs,” he said.
“We’ve got a Prime Minister of Australia acting in this sort of dictatorial, but worst of all, secretive way.”
University of Sydney constitutional expert Anne Twomey said the secret swearing-ins were “bizarre” and “utterly inappropriate”.
“What on earth was going on, I don’t know, but the secrecy involved in this is just simply bizarre,” she said.
“If they had done it and made it public, (it) probably would have been seen (as) pretty reasonable. But hiding it? That’s the weird thing.”
Sky News Australia reported Mr Morrison said he “hadn’t seen” the allegations levelled by Mr Albanese.
“Since leaving the job, I haven’t engaged in any day-to-day politics,” Mr Morrison said.
In a statement a spokesman for Governor-General Hurley said it was “not uncommon” for ministers to be appointed to administer departments other than their portfolio responsibility, but would not weigh in on Mr Morrison’s reasoning for doing so secretly.
“Questions around appointments of this nature are a matter for the government of the day and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,” he said.
“Similarly, the decision whether to publicise appointments to administer additional portfolios is a matter for the government of the day.”
Nationals leader and former minister David Littleproud questioned why Mr Morrison wouldn’t have simply consulted with his relevant cabinet colleagues at the time.
“As far as I’m concerned, if you have a cabinet government, you trust your cabinet,” he said.
It is understood Mr Morrison’s control over the finances portfolio would have enabled him to sign off on “appropriations” spending like the purchase of personal protective equipment and vaccines without going through the expenditure review committee (ERC) process.
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