Scott Morrison breaks silence on secret ministry scandal as Anthony Albanese seeks legal advice

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has revealed he was kept in the dark about the full extent of Scott Morrison’s secret appointment to additional ministerial portfolios while prime minister.

In March of 2020, Mr Morrison was sworn in as a second health minister and second finance minister. The move was never made public, even to his colleagues.

On Sunday, news.com.au revealed the former prime minister had also sworn himself in as resources minister, and ultimately used that power to roll the existing resources minister, Keith Pitt, over a plan to drill for gas off the NSW coast.

Mr Dutton, who was defence minister under Mr Morrison, said he could see reasons why the then-prime minister might have sworn himself into the health portfolio during the pandemic.

“There was no vaccine and people were having all sorts of Armageddon scenarios,’’ he said.

“Did you know?’’ Mr Dutton was then asked by radio host Raf Epstein on ABC Melbourne.

“I wasn’t consulted. I wasn’t part of the decision making process,’’ said Mr Dutton.

“Obviously, the prime minister, or the former prime minister, had his reasons, his logic for it but [it was] not a decision that I was a party to or was aware of.”

News.com.au understands Mr Dutton did become aware, at some juncture, of the arrangements in the health portfolio, but was unaware of claims that Mr Morrison had also been sworn into the finance and resources portfolios.

“I wasn’t part of the decision-making process,” he said.

“I read about it in the paper in the last couple of days, And that’s just … something that I don’t want to venture [an opinion on].”

Asked if he knew whether or not Mr Morrison was secretly sworn into his own portfolio, Mr Dutton said he didn’t think so.

“Not to my knowledge. No,’’ he said.

Mr Dutton’s remarks came after Mr Morrison broke his silence on the matter, texting a Sky News journalist to say he doesn’t “engage in day-to-day politics” anymore.

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese considers calling an inquiry into the revelations, Mr Morrison still has yet to explain himself.

Offered a right of reply by Sky News host Kieran Gilbert today, the former PM texted back that he didn’t have anything to say – yet.

“No, haven’t seen what he has said. Since leaving the job I haven’t engaged in any day-to-day politics,’’ he said.

That response sparked a testy response from Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell, who reminded viewers that Mr Morrison was still in parliament.

The former prime minister is still collecting a $211,250 salary as a backbench MP and recently skipped the first week of parliament to travel overseas.

Industry minister Angus Taylor is another Coalition frontbencher who was left in the dark about Mr Morrison’s secret arrangements. He didn’t know Mr Morrison had been sworn into his own portfolio.

The former resources minister said he discovered the prime minister was secretly sworn into the portfolio at some juncture in 2021.

“There is no doubt it was unusual,’’ Mr Pitt told Sky News.

“I am not going to throw him under a bus, I am just not. It’s clearly something I was concerned about.”

Earlier today, Governor-General David Hurley confirmed he swore Mr Morrison into multiple ministerial roles – in some cases without the existing minister’s knowledge – but distanced himself from the decision to keep the changes a secret.

The Governor-General’s office said in a statement to news.com.au it was acting on the advice of Mr Morrison and the decision to publicise the arrangements was a matter for “the government of the day”.

That statement came shortly after Mr Albanese blasted his predecessor’s secrecy and confirmed he was seeking advice on the legality of Mr Morrison’s appointments.

“This is extraordinary and unprecedented,” he said.

“In Australia, we have a Westminster system of government that produces accountability. This is the sort of tin-pot activity that we would ridicule if it was in a non-democratic country.”

Mr Albanese said he was seeking a briefing from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

“Let’s be very clear – Australians knew during the election campaign that I was running a shadow ministry. What they didn’t know was that Scott Morrison was running a shadow government,’’ he said.

Mr Albanese said it was “extraordinary” that then-finance minister Mathias Cormann wasn’t even told the former prime minister had joined him in his portfolio.

“A whole lot of questions arise from this. What did Peter Dutton and other continuing members of the now shadow ministry know about these circumstances?’’ he said.

“We had the extraordinary revelation that Mathias Cormann, apparently, wasn’t aware that Scott Morrison was the finance minister as well as himself.

“And how is it that the Governor-General could swear-in Scott Morrison into ministerial portfolios without there being a transparency there about that process? This is quite extraordinary.

“This is a government of Australia where the people of Australia were kept in the dark as to what the ministerial arrangements were. It’s completely unacceptable.

“This is very contrary to our Westminster system. It is unbecoming. It was cynical and it was just weird that this has occurred.”

In a statement to news.com.au, a spokesperson for Governor-General David Hurley said the head of state was not doing anything out of the ordinary by appointing the minsterships to Mr Morrison.

“The Governor-General, following normal process and acting on the advice of the government of the day, appointed former Prime Minister Morrison to administer portfolios other than the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The appointments were made consistently with section 64 of the Constitution,’’ the spokesperson said.

“It is not uncommon for ministers to be appointed to administer departments other than their portfolio responsibility. These appointments do not require a swearing-in ceremony – the Governor-General signs an administrative instrument on the advice of the Prime Minister.

“Questions around appointments of this nature are a matter for the government of the day and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Similarly, the decision whether to publicise appointments to administer additional portfolios is a matter for the government of the day.”

‘Kind of weird’: Ministers blindsided

Mr Pitt has told colleagues he was kept in the dark and shocked to learn of the prime minister’s secret powers during discussions with him and his office in late 2021 over the controversial oil and gas project.

In December of 2021, Mr Morrison announced he was taking the first steps towards killing the gas project.

Mr Pitt wanted to move ahead with approvals. Mr Morrison did not.

It was during this process, when he was presented with a range of options, that the prime minister revealed to Mr Pitt he was secretly sworn in as the minister and could make the decision himself.

Mr Pitt was so concerned that he asked for the executive order outlining how two ministers could be sworn into the portfolio, only to discover it did not exist.

Coalition sources have told news.com.au Mr Pitt then complained to the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, but was told: “He’s the prime minister”.

Multiple former cabinet ministers have told news.com.au they either didn’t understand why it had been done or objected to it.

“The problem with Scott is he had this grandiose view of himself,” one former minister said.

“And it was kind of weird.”

Government sources have confirmed that ministers can be appointed under instrument when ministers are sick for short term administration without the need to tell the Governor-General but it was unusual for the prime minister to be appointed.

It’s now emerged former finance Minister Mathias Cormann was never informed that Mr Morrison had sworn himself into his portfolio in March 2020.

Coalition sources confirmed Mr Cormann only learned of the secret arrangement through an excerpt of new book Plagued, by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, published in The Weekend Australian last week.

News.com.au has contacted Mr Morrison, Mr Porter and Mr Cormann, who is currently serving overseas as a diplomat, for comment.

Plagued recounts how Mr Morrison “hatched a radical and, until now, secret plan” with then-Attorney-General Christian Porter’s approval.

“Porter advised that 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 administer the same portfolio,’’ the book says.

“I trust you, mate,” Mr Morrison told Health Minister Greg Hunt, “but I’m swearing myself in as Health Minister, too.”

The public was never told of the prime minister’s secret arrangement, and the reasons for that secrecy have not been explained.

Mr Morrison also swore himself in as Finance Minister alongside Mr Cormann because he wanted to ensure there were two people who had their hands on the purse strings.

“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,’’ Benson recounts in Plagued.

“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 reside only with the Health Minister.

“A declaration under section 475 gave Hunt as Health Minister exclusive and extraordinary powers. He, and only he, could personally make directives that overrode any other law and were not disallowable by parliament. He had authority to direct any citizen in the country to do something, or not do something, to prevent spread of the disease.”

In June, BPH Energy told the stock exchange it had launched a Federal Court challenge to the gas project decision.

The Australian newspaper reports today Mr Morrison was appointed by Governor-General David Hurley to take control of the entire Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources nearly a year before he scuttled an offshore gas project weeks out from the federal election.

Federal Court documents reveal that the former prime minister was appointed to administer the super department on April 15, handing him powers over the Commonwealth-NSW Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority “pursuant to sections 64 and 65 of the Constitution”.

Plagued, by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, is out on Tuesday

Originally published as Scott Morrison breaks silence on secret ministry scandal as Anthony Albanese seeks legal advice