The Power List: Scott Morrison’s inner sanctum fiercely loyal

There is one group of people Scott Morrison will rely most heavily on to help cement his power base.

David Gazard, a close friend of Scott Morrison, watches as the PM claims victory on election night 2019. Picture: Hollie Adams

Some are well known in the public sphere; others have earned their political stripes behind the scenes, while a few are decades-long friends who have little involvement with the machinations of Canberra.

But the inner sanctum of Australia’s 30th prime minister enjoy unparalleled access to Scott Morrison, and are fiercely loyal to him.

Scott Morrison will rely most heavily on this group to help cement his power base and implement his reformist agenda in the lead-up to the 2022 election.

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Josh Frydenberg tops the list as Morrison’s most trusted political loyalist. The Treasurer is considered among the hardest-working federal MPs, and his pre-election budget set the framework for the successful Coalition election campaign.

Other familiar faces in the PM’s inner sanctum include finance minister Mathias Cormann and Nationals leader and deputy PM, Michael McCormack.

But Morrison also retains the counsel of two of his oldest friends, lobbyist David Gazard and Liberal party powerbroker Scott Briggs. The pair are said to be as close to Morrison as any of his Cabinet colleagues.

Morrison’s closest political advisers are chief-of-staff John Kunkel, a former Rio Tinto executive and Howard staffer, principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein and Andrew Shearer, a former national security adviser to both John Howard and Tony Abbott.

Other figures in Morrison’s inner sanctum include communications director Andrew Carswell, a former chief-of-staff at The Daily Telegraph, Nico Louw, who as Morrison’s executive officer is the PM’s “link to everything and everyone” and barely leaves his side, and national security adviser Michelle Chan.

Western Australia MP Ben Morton, assistant minister to the Prime Minister, is also close to the PM.

Morton, who like Morrison was a former Liberal party state director, acts as a conduit to the business community and is a key figure in the Australian Public Service shake-up.