ScoMo’s ‘committee of one’ held hundreds of secret meetings

Damning revelations have been made concerning Scott Morrison’s cabinet office policy committee, which held hundreds of secret meetings.

Scott Morrison was the sole member of a secretive cabinet committee that met hundreds of times in the last term of parliament, damning Freedom of Information documents appear to show.

The Cabinet Office Policy Committee (COPC) created an enormous 739 sets of minutes with Mr Morrison as its only permanent member, information from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has revealed.

Included in the minutes – gathered between July 2, 2019 and April 11, 2022 – were meetings held by the national cabinet, which met 66 times, and the women’s safety task force which appeared to have met eight times, The Guardian revealed.

Up to 665 minutes remained unaccounted for, suggesting hundreds of undisclosed meetings took place.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison was the sole member of a secretive cabinet committee Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

The apparent secrecy surrounding the committee ignited fierce objection from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said he “cannot conceive” how Mr Morrison was permitted to create a “cabinet committee with one member on it”.

He told Studio 10 it allowed Mr Morrison “to avoid scrutiny for meetings” and to “pretend they were cabinet subcommittee meetings”.

His accusations were echoed by former senator Rex Patrick, who claimed the committee was an “abuse of process”.

“A committee of one is not a committee. It allowed Mr Morrison the ability to meet with anyone, including his gardener, and wrap a 20-year secrecy blanket over what was discussed,” he said.

Mr Patrick has been campaigning for dozens of minutes from national cabinet meetings to be released.

Mr Morrison in 2019 tasked ministers with embarking on “deep dives” to establish new policies through consultations with stakeholders and businesses.

It has since been revealed such consultations were done through the COPC and its “secrecy blanket”, meaning items discussed didn’t have to be publicly disclosed.

Mr Morrison’s committee met hundreds of times over secret matters. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Mr Morrison told the publication the COPC served its purpose of allowing ministers, officials, members of parliament and experts to have “deep dive policy discussions” and “more targeted, effective and dynamic” discussions than standard cabinet subcommittees.

Through a spokesperson, he said the meetings supported the government’ response to “to significant issues, consider strategic policy direction and to assist in the early stages of preparing cabinet submissions, including budget submissions”.

They added the COPC was “very effective and practical in working though complex policy issues”.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet opted to release six minutes from national cabinet, which had been previously released, and keen the remaining 733 blocked.

The department cited confidentiality, harm to commonwealth-state relations and adverse effects on an agency’s operation.

The COPC revelations come after it was revealed Mr Morrison secretly appointed himself as a minister for health, finance and resources during his time in power through a secret mechanism that did not require him to make the change public.