Scott Morrison was wrong, now time to move on

Parliament has censured Scott Morrison for his secret swearing into several portfolios, thus undermining the Westminster system and “corroding democracy”.

It’s done and dusted, the political point has been made, Morrison has been punished and Labor needs to move on and get on with its job. It means nothing to Morrison as an MP or former prime minister and is a largely political condemnation.

Morrison did the wrong thing and deserves criticism but Labor needs to keep its focus on the national interest and on using Parliament’s time to address the crises that still face the nation.

All Labor MPs, all but one independent and one Liberal MP voted for the censure of the former Prime Minister after Anthony Albanese accused his predecessor of undermining the Parliamentary system and misleading the Australian people.

“A censure motion like this is as rare as it is grave. The fact that it has become so necessary constitutes a profoundly sad moment in the life of our national Parliament,” Albanese said.

“But to ignore it would be to be complicit to say – well, that was OK. This House of Representatives has a responsibility,” he said.

It was essentially a partisan vote with a couple of variations at the edge. Given the pressure on the Parliamentary agenda in the final sitting days of 2022 the two hours spent debating the censure motion is more than enough.

Morrison defended himself saying that he did not misuse his authority but Albanese said he owed an apology to the Australian people and showed no contrition.

Albanese also said that the new Labor Government had not sought to call a Royal Commission into Morrison’s actions as the former Coalition Governments had into Labor leaders’ actions.

Peter Dutton and most of Morrison’s Coalition colleagues saw the necessity of sticking by the former leader no matter how much they resented the secrecy in keeping the portfolios even from them.

Albanese made cogent arguments about the role of Parliament and the executive and prosecuted the political case about transparency and trust which fits the current narrative on anti-corruption legislation.

It was a measure of the politics of the situation that Albanese was eviscerating one former Liberal Prime Minister in the House of Representatives Chamber while warmly congratulating another member of the elite club of Prime Ministers – Tony Abbott – as his official, fantastic portrait was unveiled.

Point made, move on.