Coronavirus: Premiers back Scott Morrison on call to keep crisis cabinet

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews predicts COAG will look significantly different once the coronavirus crisis is over.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews predicts COAG will look significantly different once the coronavirus crisis is over, as premiers lined up to support Scott Morrison’s hope to keep the ­national cabinet as a permanent fixture of the nation’s politics.

Mr Andrews, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk all backed the retention of the ­national cabinet on Tuesday, saying it was cutting red tape and giving states a stronger voice.

Former premiers also heaped praise on the crisis cabinet, but ex-WA premier Geoff Gallop warned the current success of the leaders’ forum might be challenged when the pandemic is over and normal politics resumes.

Mr Andrews said the new leaders’ forum would permanently change the old COAG system, where premiers and prime ministers met on average twice a year.

“National cabinet is working well, with all first ministers focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic,” he said. “Once we are through to the other side of this crisis, I expect COAG will look significantly different.”

Ms Berejiklian said the national cabinet had merit as a permanent body after it had cut through ­bureaucratic processes.

“There is no doubt the national cabinet process has allowed us to cut a lot of red tape, something you absolutely need when dealing with a pandemic. I think there is merit in considering these arrangements beyond COVID-19,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk praised Mr Morrison’s leadership and said the national cabinet was giving the states more say than through the usual COAG process. “The Prime Minister is really listening to the states, he is responding, and the level of co-operation is phenomenal,” she said.

A spokesman said Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein supported the national cabinet staying in place, and succeeding COAG as the pre-eminent national forum for state and federal leaders.

Former Victorian premier John Brumby, who led the COAG reform council before Tony Abbott disbanded it in 2014, said a permanent national cabinet would be nimbler, more decisive and give states a greater voice.

“I’ve always said COAG should meet more regularly and focus on big national issues. I look back and think this model could have helped with areas like energy policy,” he said. “The national cabinet has a nimbleness and a decisiveness. There has also been more input from the states, not just an agenda developed in the Prime Minister’s office.’’