Governor-General David Hurley on Scott Morrison secret ministries power grab

Pressure is mounting on Scott Morrison to resign from parliament after further revelations in a scandal now engulfing the Liberal-National Coalition, but which he denied was a ‘power grab’.

Mr Morrison secretly appointed himself to five additional ministerial portfolios – Health, Finance, Resources, Treasury and Home Affairs – over the last two years of his time as prime minister. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday called on the former prime minister to apologise to the Australian people for ‘a trashing of our democratic system’. 

But Governor-General David Hurley, who had to approve Mr Morrison’s self-appointments, said he had no reason to believe they wouldn’t be publicly announced.

In distancing himself from the growing fury surrounding the secret portfolios, Mr Hurley sought to defend his own judgement, which has been called into question. 

Not only have Liberal MPs and right-wing commentators called for Mr Morrison’s resignation, but some on the government benches have questioned Mr Hurley’s future. 

On Tuesday, former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews was the first Liberal MP to publicly call for Mr Morrison to leave parliament, though others have said so privately. 

This was followed by Sky News host Andrew Bolt giving an extraordinary, almost 10-minute long monologue on his program lambasting Mr Morrison.

‘Former prime minister Scott Morrison has embarrassed, even devastated his party and today the scandal got even more bizarre,’ Bolt said.

‘He’s finished, quit parliament now, just go.’

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Hurley said Mr Morrison’s decision to keep the five ministerial appointments secret was a matter for the previous government.

It comes as Mr Morrison gave a rambling, hour long press conference on Wednesday in which he refused to resign from parliament, saying he took the extra posts ‘to exercise decisions in an emergency situation’.

He defended his actions, saying his five secret ministries were needed for an emergency scenario when he would need to act in the national interest.

‘It was a very extraordinary time that tested every sinew and fabric of government … (and) Australian society,’ he said.

‘We took decisions – I did as a prime minister, we did as a cabinet – at federal and state level that some of us would never have dreamed we would ever have to make.’

Mr Morrison said he would be happy to cooperate with any process investigating what he called ‘gaps’ in the system of appointing ministers. 

Mr Hurley’s spokesman said it was not his responsibility to publicly advise of the  changes to the ministry made by Mr Morrison.

‘The Governor-General had no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated,’ he said.

‘Any questions around secrecy after the Governor-General had acted on the advice of the government of the day are a matter for the previous government.’

The spokesman said Mr Hurley acted consistently on the advice of the government of the day and in line with protocols.

‘The Governor-General signs an instrument to act on the advice of the government of the day. 

‘The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is responsible for that process (to appoint a minister),’ he said. 

One of Mr Morrison’s decisions as resources minister – in relation to the PEP-11 gas project off the NSW coast – is now before the Federal Court.

The Solicitor-General is preparing advice for Mr Albanese, to be delivered on Monday, on whether there are other legal issues relating to Mr Morrison’s actions.

Speaking to reporters in Sydney on Wednesday, Mr Morrison was adamant that secretly taking on five extra portfolios wasn’t a power grab.

He said he never used the powers or overruled ministers, apart from the resources portfolio decision.

‘As prime minister, only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders,’ he said.

‘The non-exercising of these powers proves that they were handled responsibly, that they were not abused, that they were there in a reserve capacity to ensure the prime minister could act if that was necessary.’

Mr Morrison said he kept the powers a secret so as to not ‘undermine the confidence of ministers’.

‘To best of my recollection … I didn’t exercise any override of any of the ministers in any of their agencies except for (PEP-11).’

Mr Morrison has apologised to his colleagues – including three of the five ministers whose positions he secretly appointed himself to without telling them – for keeping them in the dark.

Several crossbenchers have flagged referring Mr Morrison to parliamentary committees.

He said he was happy to cooperate with any ‘genuine or positive process’ that examined the government’s pandemic response.

Labor is considering ways to make ministerial appointments more transparent.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who has backed Mr Morrison over the course of the scandal, said he will work with the government to ensure ‘checks and balances are put in place to make sure it can’t happen again’.

Mr Albanese said democracy cannot be taken for granted. ‘Democracy is in retreat worldwide. There’s people fighting now in Ukraine to protect democracy … you have a rise of undemocratic regimes. 

‘Our democracy is precious, we need to defend it and strengthen it, not undermine it,’ he told reporters in Brisbane.

‘(It’s) a clear misleading of the parliament, whereby parliamentarians and ministers are held to account for areas in which they have responsibility.’