‘Had we known, we would have rolled him’: Liberal colleagues’ disbelief over Scott Morrison’s multiple ministries

Then-PM Scott Morrison (left) and Governor-General David Hurley conduct a swearing-in ceremony at Government House, Canberra in March last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Scott Morrison’s brazen decision to secretly appoint himself to multiple ministries with the help of an acquiescent Governor-General is, as new PM Anthony Albanese said yesterday, the stuff of tin pot dictatorships.

Especially given that is started during a pandemic when the former PM was casually cancelling parliament at the same time. Junking our representative system of government with all its institutional checks and balances. That his self-appointment process continued well beyond 2020, across multiple portfolios with more such secret co-ministerial take-ups soon to be revealed (yes, that’s right – there are more), speaks to Morrison’s utter contempt for our political institutions and political culture.

Transparency and openness are words he apparently never learnt the meaning of.

I can tell you my phone has been running hot with former and current front and backbench colleagues of Morrison expressing everything from disgust to disbelief in his actions.

-

Had they known before the election what they know now, “we would have rolled him”, is how one Liberal bluntly put it.

-

If the excuse was that the pandemic called for radical actions, so be it. Tell the voters, Mr Morrison. At least show them that respect. Be open about the need for radical measures. Don’t use secrecy to trample over tradition and institutions. It is always the cover-up that catches out politicians.

No wonder after the election Morrison told Margaret Court’s church “we don’t trust in governments”. Not after the sneaky actions of his administration.

But Morrison can’t fall back on the pandemic as an excuse for his institutional vandalism. He kept taking over the powers of his ministers, secretly, in 2021, with the endorsement of a limp GG seemingly incapable of thinking outside the square as he secretly signed off on more Morrison ministerial appointments one-by-one.

If the GG survives his full term after such revelations, that will be another Morrison miracle. The role requires someone capable of doing more that simply following prime ministerial orders. Acting on the PM’s advice as a guide for GG services doesn’t mean losing the ability to think for oneself about what’s appropriate in a democracy and what’s not. The GG might be a largely ceremonial office, but he or she is also supposed to be an important check on unrestrained power. At the least he should have insisted that the appointments be made public.

Institutional conservatives are supposed to defend institutions and act conservatively when butting up against traditions. Not Morrison. The modern Liberal Party he led would make Robert Menzies turn in his grave. Defending his actions on this occasion can only represent partisan cheering.

Plagued: Australia's two years of hell – the inside story, by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, is released today.

It speaks to the former PM’s delusion that he seemingly discussed these secret arrangements post his prime ministership with the authors of Plagued, the new book revealing the unusual arrangements, apparently believing airing the details in the wake of the pandemic would add, not subtract, from his legacy. Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers must have been licking their lips.

Then of course, further examples have come to light, such as usurping the resources minister Keith Pitt in 2021, highlighting just how consumed by his own power Morrison became as PM. Seemingly addicted to taking over ministries in the belief that only Scott Morrison knew best. It was Trump-like behaviour.

The dripping irony that a PM who tried to hide his Hawaii vacation only to return and declare “I don’t hold a hose mate” when questioned about fleeing a fire-ravaged nation when he shouldn’t have, would think giving himself multiple jobs is the antidote to any problem.

With more such secret ministerial arrangements set to be revealed (watch this space), with an inquiry into the malpractice (because legal or not that’s what it culturally is) announced by Albanese, and with Morrison’s Coalition colleagues shocked to their collective core, surely the former PM should quit parliament pronto.

He’s well and truly past his used by date. Thanks for your service … across so many portfolios.

Peter van Onselen is Winthrop Professor of Politics and Public Policy at The University of Western Australia.