Scott Morrison’s legacy as prime minister is gravely damaged. The Liberal Party’s existential crisis has deepened. And Anthony Albanese’s authority as “new brand” PM is enhanced.
Albanese has been handed a rare and weird political gift with revelations that Morrison had himself sworn into five portfolios in an operation kept secret from the public, the parliament and most of the relevant ministers.
These events are without precedent in our ministerial history. They testify to the destabilising impact of the pandemic, the shattering of effective cabinet government during 2020 and 2021, and Morrison’s belief that greater prime ministerial power was the fallback option for Australia.
Morrison found himself trapped between an assault of political overkill by Albanese and the angry bewilderment of his own side at his secret ministerial arrangements – given Morrison had himself commissioned into their portfolios without telling finance minister Mathias Cormann, home affairs minister Karen Andrews and, incredibly, his trusted deputy leader and treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.
Andrews accused Morrison of betrayal. Frydenberg, now out of politics, was left contemplating how he repelled pressures from MPs in late 2021 to challenge an unpopular Morrison while unaware that Morrison was also treasurer of the country. In the 12 months before the May 2022 election there were two treasurers, Frydenberg and Morrison.
The ultimate in weirdness is that Morrison – with one exception – played no role, got no briefs and took no decisions while holding these five portfolios, thereby proving the whole project was unnecessary and unjustified. The damage, however, is immense.
Morrison defended his actions on Tuesday, highlighting the unprecedented nature of the pandemic but apologised for any offence he caused his colleagues. Morrison has no intention of quitting parliament in the near future and the last option the Liberals need now is a by-election.
This issue has a long way to run. Albanese will receive an opinion from the Solicitor-General next Monday on the legality of Morrison’s actions. Morrison says all his actions were legal and constitutional with Governor-General David Hurley authorising everything. Albanese branded Morrison’s actions as “an extraordinary and unprecedented trashing of our democracy” – but the legal test will be pivotal.
Morrison’s defence is he did what was required as PM. He said he acted in good faith at a highly unusual time. It was his job to build safeguards into the system to protect the public and that is what he did. The dilemma for Morrison is the secrecy. Secrecy is the curse in this fiasco.
Yet without secrecy the senior ministers would surely have vetoed such a project. It seems that Morrison having initially used this method in relation to the health portfolio – a decision that can be justified – then applied it to a range of senior portfolios without telling the existing ministers.
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