Scott Morrison’s secret Covid moves to protect power

Scott Morrison secretly swore himself in as joint health minister when Covid-19 began to take off in March 2020, after concerns he was ­effectively handing control of the country to Greg Hunt.

Greg Hunt and Scott Morrison in Canberra in early 2020 as the pandemic took hold. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison secretly swore himself in as joint health minister when Covid-19 began to take off in March 2020, after concerns that by invoking emergency measures under biosecurity laws, he was ­effectively handing control of the country to Greg Hunt.

The then prime minister wanted to ensure that if his health minister was incapacitated by the virus, he could still administer the never-before-used emergency health powers, which could not be delegated, even to cabinet.

“I trust you, mate,” Morrison told Hunt, “but I’m swearing myself in as health minister, too.”

Such was the concern at the time, Morrison also appointed himself as joint finance minister with Mathias Cormann to ensure that two ministers had their hands on the purse strings as the government unleashed the largest fiscal stimulus in the nation’s history.

The unprecedented move by a prime minister in response to a one-in-100-year crisis is revealed in a new book, Plagued – an inside story into the federal government’s management of the pandemic – to be released next week.

Plagued also chronicles from inside the room that fateful day on Friday, March 13, 2020, when Morrison spontaneously came up with the idea of a national cabinet as health officials frantically moved to convince state and federal leaders to shut the country down.

The book reveals Morrison went to extreme lengths to ensure the machinery of government did not crumble as the country faced a great unknown.

He demanded oversight measures before invoking the “trumping provisions” of the biosecurity laws, which Hunt described as akin to the “divine right of kings”.

“Morrison wasn’t satisfied, feeling that there needed to be more checks and balances before any single minister could wield such powers,” the book reveals.

“One option was to delegate the powers to cabinet but (attorney-general) Christian Porter’s advice was these powers could not be delegated and could only reside with the health minister.

“Morrison then hatched a radical and until now secret plan with Porter’s approval.

“He would swear himself in as health minister alongside Hunt.

“Such a move was without precedent, let alone being done in ­secret, but the trio saw it as an ­elegant solution to the problem they were trying to solve – safeguarding against any one minister having absolute power.”

Porter advised it could be done through an “administrative instrument and didn’t need ­appointment by the governor-general, with no constitutional barrier to having two ministers ­ appointed to and administer the same portfolio”.

Plagued also reveals how the national cabinet was established during a marathon Council of Australian Governments meeting at Parramatta’s Western Sydney Stadium in March 2020.

The COAG meeting was dominated by rapidly evolving health and economic advice from Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy, Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe and then chief medical officer professor Brendan Murphy.

With Covid-19 cases doubling in four days, Murphy convened an Australian Health Protection Principal Committee meeting with state and territory chief health officers to consider the pros and cons of staged restrictions over the coming weeks.

Murphy, now the Department of Health secretary, had earlier that day briefed COAG leaders on new modelling that he described as “worrying”.

“At some stage we will have to look at physical distancing measures and shutdowns.

“But that’s probably a bit of time away yet,” Murphy told the leaders.

In the AHPPC meeting, ­Murphy soon realised that the state and territory chief health ­officers were moving rapidly in their thinking and wanted to start ­shutting the country down that day.

“I’ve just told the premiers we might do that in the coming weeks, but not today,” Murphy told the chief health officers.

When Morrison found out about the AHPPC advice during the lunch break, he snapped at Murphy over the “180-degree turnaround”.

“‘We have always said we would take the health advice, but you’ll need to explain this to them,” he said, pointing towards the room where the state and ­territory leaders were gathered.

Amid concerns from leaders about the ad hoc AHPPC advice, Morrison decided COAG was not armed to deal with a pandemic.

On the spot, he made his call and proposed a nat­ional cabinet.

“In Morrison’s words, they had just gone ‘from zero to 100’.”

Later that day, after hearing Peter Dutton had contracted Covid-19, Morrison chief-of-staff John Kunkel contacted cabinet secretary Andrew Shearer.

“They’ve also decided to set up a national cabinet,” Kunkel said.

”What’s that?” asked Shearer.

“That’s your problem now, mate.”

Despite Anthony Albanese’s criticism of national cabinet during the pandemic, the Prime Minister has convened three meetings since the May 21 election.

Albanese will hold his fourth national cabinet meeting this month ahead of the federal government’s jobs summit.

Plagued, by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, published by Pantera Press, is out on Tuesday.