Scott Morrison’s actions now appear even harder to understand

Cartoon: Johannes Leak

Scott Morrison has failed to provide a convincing explanation for secretly appointing himself to several other ministries during the global pandemic.

In an hour long press conference on Wednesday, the former prime minister was unpersuasive about why he gave himself the ability to take over the finance, treasury, resources and home affairs portfolios between March 2020 and May 2021.

There was only one portfolio for which there was a convincing reason for Morrison to share responsibility: health.

To justify the expansion of his authority into the remaining four portfolios, Morrison made two central claims. And both appear disingenuous.

First, Morrison said he was responding to public pressure and needed to do what was “necessary”. Second, Morrison said he was ensuring there was effective management of the pandemic.

To start with the first claim, Morrison argued there was a perception he was responsible for “every single thing that was going on.”

Morrison said the public held him to account for “every drop of rain, every strain of the virus (and) everything that occurred over that period of time.”

Where there were special powers available to the prime minister, Mr Morrison said there was an expectation that he make use of them.

Morrison under intense media questioning.

This was so he could “protect the country” and lead Australians through one of the nation’s most difficult periods marked by natural disasters, a pandemic and a recession.

“People held me, rightly, to account for that,” he said.

A strong case can be made for the truth of this argument. But it does not stand up as justification for Morrison’s conduct.

If Morrison was responding to public pressure — as he suggests — then why keep secret his decision to take responsibility for a range of other portfolios? Morrison’s actions, given his public explanation, now appear even harder to understand.

Not only did Morrison not tell the public — he didn’t tell his closest colleagues. Josh Frydenberg did not know that, for a year, Australia effectively had two treasurers. Steven Kennedy, the head of Treasury, had no idea.

Mathias Cormann, the former finance minister, was unaware. So was former home affairs minister Karen Andrews who was so incensed on Tuesday that she called for Morrison to leave the parliament and risk a by-election. Home Affairs department secretary Mike Pezzullo was not looped in.

Second, Morrison argues he took these extraordinary steps to ensure Australia responded effectively to the pandemic.

Morrison said this was why he had to move with secrecy. He warned there was a risk the expansion of his responsibilities could be “misinterpreted and misunderstood in the middle of a pandemic” and even hinder the “day-to-day functioning of the government.”

But there is a glaring problem with this argument.

Aside from the decision to share the health portfolio with Greg Hunt, Morrison failed to explain how his takeover of treasury, finance, resources and home affairs related to the pandemic at all.

Morrison was given responsibility for industry, science, energy and resources in April 2021, and responsibility for home affairs and treasury in May 2021 — more than a year after the pandemic began.

Given Morrison’s concern the announcement of these changes would have undermined the pandemic response, it makes it harder to understand why they were needed at all.

Morrison’s critics will say the changes were made for Morrison’s personal political convenience under the cover of the pandemic.

The evidence? The only time Morrison used his extra responsibilities was when he scuttled the controversial PEP-11 gas project off the NSW coast and, in the process, usurped his resources minister.

Morrison was forced to concede this on Wednesday, saying the cancelling of this project had nothing to do with the pandemic. There was a “very different set of circumstances in relation to that project”.

While Morrison did the right thing in addressing the public on Wednesday, his explanation was confused and contradictory. It will not relieve the pressure on the Coalition or blunt the Labor attack.

Morrison’s legacy of pandemic management now risks being tainted by his decision to secretly take responsibility for several other portfolios. The political tragedy for Morrison is that this step appears to have been entirely unnecessary.