Morrison erred in keeping his pandemic powers secret

By being unnecessarily secretive in an emergency, Scott Morrison has committed a cardinal sin of politics. He has opened the door for his opponents to fill in the blanks and cast his actions in the most damaging possible light. Anthony Albanese has seized on revelations that Mr Morrison proactively assumed powers over other ministries during the pandemic as “an extraordinary and unprecedented trashing of our democracy”. Performing to a full gallery of journalists, the Prime Minister said Mr Morrison had deliberately undermined important checks and balances, appointing himself to five additional portfolios in addition to his appointment as the head of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Departmental records showed Mr Morrison was appointed to administer the Department of Health on March 14, 2020; the Department of Finance on March 30, 2020; the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on April 15, 2021; and the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of the Treasury on May 6, 2021. Each of the appointments had been made under section 64 of the Constitution. “Once you go down that road of creating a cabinet committee with one member on it, so as to avoid scrutiny, it’s not surprising that further steps will be made,” Mr Albanese said.

The Prime Minister clearly is playing politics with the issue, as you would expect him to do. He is happy to stoke the fires of confusion before receiving formal advice on Monday about the likely legality of Mr Morrison’s actions. In the meantime, Mr Morrison is being painted by opponents, both in government and on his own side of politics, as a control freak who did not trust the public or those around him to know what he was doing.

It is almost beyond comprehension that Mr Morrison did not even tell his treasurer and deputy Liberal leader, Josh Frydenberg, who lived at The Lodge during the ACT lockdown, that he had been sworn in as treasurer. Mr Frydenberg was loyal to Mr Morrison, rejecting an approach from MPs late last year to challenge for the leadership. Nor did Mr Morrison tell Mr Frydenberg that he had been sworn in as finance minister.

On Tuesday, after at first failing to remember the number of additional portfolio powers he had been given, Mr Morrison offered a lengthy defence of his actions via Facebook. In essence, Mr Morrison said the extraordinary times of the pandemic required extraordinary measures. “As prime minister, I considered it necessary to put in place safeguards, redundancies and contingencies to ensure the continuity and effective operation of government during this crisis period, which extended for the full period of my term,” Mr Morrison wrote. He said he had taken the precaution of being given authority to administer various departments of state should the need arise because of incapacity of a minister or in the national interest. This was done in relation to departments where ministers were vested with specific powers under their legislation that were not subject to oversight by cabinet, including significant financial authorities.

Mr Morrison said given the significant nature of many of these powers, he considered his actions to be “prudent and responsible”.

Ultimately, it was not necessary for Mr Morrison to use any of the additional powers. “It is important to note that throughout this time, ministers in all departments, where I was provided with authority to act, exercised full control of their departments and portfolios without intervention, “ he said. “In the event that I would have to use such powers, I would have done so disclosing the authority by which I was making such decisions. The authority was pre-approved to ensure there would be no delay in being able to make decisions or take actions should the need arise.”

Separately, Mr Morrison did use his additional powers in the minerals portfolio to make a decision to block an offshore gas project in NSW. He had declared his authority both publicly and to the minister at the time.

With the pandemic, it is necessary to recall the extraordinary uncertainty and extreme lengths to which governments at all levels were prepared to go. This included the use of Victoria Police to arrest a young mother for posting unwelcome messages on Facebook. Given this context, it is entirely reasonable to expect that had Mr Morrison made his actions known to the public at the time, there would have been no objection to what were considered to be safeguard measures.

But Mr Morrison erred in keeping his actions secret. He has not adequately explained why he needed to be given the powers proactively, rather than wait until a minister was actually taken ill. More detail is needed on the precise wording of his additional ministerial authority. By not disclosing his actions to colleagues, Mr Morrison has perhaps signalled an inner knowing that he had overstepped the mark. Disclosure of the pandemic arrangements now has empowered his enemies and allowed Labor to put a dark stain on Mr Morrison’s judgment and his government’s pandemic legacy. It is another reminder that transparency is essential both for good government and personal reputation.