Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews calls on Scott Morrison to resign from parliament over secret power grab, as former PM apologises

Former prime minister Scott Morrison. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas.

A senior Liberal frontbencher whose role was assumed by Scott Morrison without her knowledge has called on the former prime minister to resign from parliament, as he admits the extraordinary move to jointly appoint himself to several ministries in secret was “unnecessary”.

Key points:
Intelligence agencies did not know Scott Morrison had put himself in joint control of home affairs
One of his former ministers has called on him to resign over the move
Mr Morrison admits he used his extra powers to overrule another one of his ministers
Mr Morrison appointed himself to jointly run the home affairs portfolio without ever informing then-minister Karen Andrews, she said in a statement.

“I had absolutely no knowledge and was not told by the [prime minister, the prime minister’s office] nor the department secretary. This undermines the integrity of government,” Ms Andrews said.

“I think that Scott Morrison needs to resign, and he needs to leave parliament.

“This is just unacceptable, and if this is the way that he is prepared to conduct himself without an adequate explanation — even though it is now going to be well past the time when such an explanation should have been made — then it is time for him to leave the parliament and look elsewhere for employment.”

Former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said criticism of Mr Morrison’s actions was “unfair”, did not join calls for him to resign.

Mr McCormack said he knew about the co-health minister appointment, and the ABC has confirmed he was in a meeting earlier this year when Mr Morrison informed then-resources minister Keith Pitt that he would use his powers as joint minister to block a petroleum exploration licence off the NSW Central Coast

The Nationals MP said it was up to Mr Morrison to determine his future.

“It’s difficult for a prime minister, particularly, to sit on the backbench and then to have their legacy trashed, in this case I would say most unfairly,” he said.

The ABC understands home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo did not know Mr Morrison had been sworn in as minister for home affairs, and that the highest levels of Australia’s intelligence agencies were also not aware.

This morning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed Mr Morrison secretly appointed himself to the health, finance, treasury, home affairs and industry, science and resources portfolios at various points between March 2020 and May 2021.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg only discovered today that Scott Morrison had secretly assumed the treasury portfolio and is said to be “deeply disappointed”.

Mr Morrison defended the move, saying it was done to establish a backup to other ministers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a “safeguard and a redundancy”.

“We were dealing with an incredible amount of discretion and money being paid,” Mr Morrison told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“They were unprecedented times and as a result they were very unconventional times.

“They are very complex, detailed issues in governance … I put in place a set of arrangements that ensured all decisions could be made instantaneously. That is the real-time crisis we were dealing with.”

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg only discovered today that Scott Morrison had secretly assumed the treasury portfolio and is said to be “deeply disappointed”.

Mr Morrison defended the move, saying it was done to establish a backup to other ministers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a “safeguard and a redundancy”.

“We were dealing with an incredible amount of discretion and money being paid,” Mr Morrison told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“They were unprecedented times and as a result they were very unconventional times.

“They are very complex, detailed issues in governance … I put in place a set of arrangements that ensured all decisions could be made instantaneously. That is the real-time crisis we were dealing with.”

When Mr Morrison was challenged on why he kept the power grabs secret from his own cabinet ministry, he argued that they were decisions between himself and the relevant ministers and not a matter for cabinet.

He said it was an oversight that in Mr Cormann’s case he did not discuss that decision.

Liberal Senate leader Simon Birmingham said he found Mr Morrison’s decision to override the then-resources minister “curious, troubling and worthy of some explanation”.

“Only the former prime minister, I guess, can do that in terms of the processes he went through,” Senator Birmingham said.

Senator Birmingham said he recalled a discussion about Mr Morrison having himself “sworn into” the health portfolio.

But he said he was not aware of whether the former PM had also been acting in the finance portfolio after Senator Birmingham took it over from Mr Cormann.

Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy also had no knowledge of Mr Morrison’s self-appointment.

Mr Albanese said there was no apparent end-date for Mr Morrison’s self-appointments, which means he would have had joint charge of finance while Senator Birmingham was minister.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, former home affairs minister Karen Andrews, and former industry and science ministers Angus Taylor and Melissa Price also shared their portfolios with Mr Morrison at some point, as well as Greg Hunt, Mr Cormann and Mr Pitt.

Mr Albanese has asked the solicitor-general for legal advice over Mr Morrison’s decisions.

He said that advice would be delivered to him on Monday.

ABC