Scott Morrison bails on Question Time early as retirement speculation mounts

Scott Morrison has walked out of Question Time early as speculation mounts that he will soon leave politics for the private sector.

The former Prime Minister was reprimanded by the House of Representatives on November 30 because of the ‘Minister of Everything’ scandal.

Parliament condemned him by a vote of 86 to 50 for secretly sworn himself in for five additional ministries in 2020 and 2021.

Apart from a defiant speech defending himself against the censure, Mr Morrison has not spoken in parliament since losing the May 22 election.

The MP for Cook left the room just before 3pm on Tuesday, well before Question Time ended at 3.21pm.

Mr Morrison is said to have left to prepare for an interview with Australia’s Associated Press, which did not begin until after Question Time had ended.

Sky News reported that ‘informed sources’ believed he would leave politics for a lucrative overseas consultancy job by the end of the year.

Mr Morrison said in response that if he had anything to say about his political future, he would make it.

For now, he maintained that he was ‘dutifully doing his job as a local MP and had returned to The [Sutherland] Shire is trying to live peacefully with his family,” Sky reported.

The staunch Liberal Party said in another interview over the weekend that he enjoyed his time as a backbencher.

“It’s quite liberating,” he said when asked what it was like to be a backbencher, noting that it was “exhausting” to hold ministries and then be Prime Minister for 10 years.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said she had been friends with Mr Morrison for “many years” but had heard nothing about his retirement plans.

“He will make a decision in the best interest of himself and his family and the people of Cook,” she said.

Speculation about Mr Morrison’s job began almost immediately after his crushing defeat by Anthony Albanese, and intensified as the ministry scandal erupted.

He was secretly sworn in as Treasurer and Secretary of the Interior; finance; health; and industry, science, energy and resources.

None of the ministers for these portfolios, except Greg Hunt for health, knew that he had secretly doubled their jobs.

Labor claimed his actions undermined, rejected, attacked and abused the standards expected of parliamentarians, and struck at the very heart of Australian democracy.

In addition to acknowledging that some (but not all) of the appointments were unnecessary, Mr Morrison strongly defended his actions during the censure motion and made no apology.

“To those who wish to express their views today on my actions in support of this motion of censure, I suggest that they stop and consider the following: Have you ever faced a crisis whose prospects were completely unknown?” he said.

‘Were you able to make all the decisions perfectly well in such circumstances? And where you may have made mistakes, were you lucky that they had no material impact on the result and the result itself turned out to be leading?

“Once you’ve thought about your own experience, or what happens when you’ve had more in government, you might want to throw the first stone in this place.”

Mr Morrison’s speech was so definitive that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek predicted he would not even make it to 2022.

Scott Morrison says sorry not sorry. My prediction – he pulls the pin at Christmas. This is his last week,” she wrote on Twitter.

The man who was once derided as ‘Squat Morrison’ for taking 13 days to leave Kirribilli House after losing the election has stuck until now.