Barnaby Joyce says ‘nothing illegal done’ by former PM amid calls to resign – as it happened

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Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has rejected calls for Scott Morrison to resign, but conceded that the former PM’s secret portfolios should not have happened at all.

Joyce told the Australian:

I don’t think he should resign, there was nothing illegal done.

Should it have happened in the form it did? No. Should it have happened at all? Probably not, in part. Does it carry much weight at the supermarket checkout? Comes distant last to the price of groceries.

Updated at 02.16 EDT

New election rules to allow Victorians in Covid isolation to vote over the phone in November

Victorians who have tested positive to Covid will be able to vote over the phone in the November election.

The Andrews government has revealed new electoral regulations will allow Victorians in isolation to participate on polling day. The changes will also extend electronic-assisted voting to Victorians impacted by other emergency situations – if a determination is made by the state’s electoral commissioner.

At the federal election in May, phone-in voting was expanded to accommodate people in isolation with Covid.

Victoria’s government services minister, Danny Pearson, said the changes would ensure Victorians with Covid could comply with public health restrictions and vote.

As always, Victorian voters will also have the option of voting at any voting centre in the state on election day, voting before election day at any early voting centre, or applying to vote by post.

Updated at 01.57 EDT

Former finance minister also unaware that Morrison secretly held portfolio

The former finance minister, Simon Birmingham, was also unaware that Morrison held the finance portfolio at the same time as he did, after he took over from Mathias Cormann in late 2020.

Birmingham declined to comment on Morrison’s decision to take responsibility for his portfolio along with four others, which he held from March 2020 until the May election this year.

“As finance minister, I exclusively exercised all powers and responsibilities vested in me with no interference or engagement from anyone else,” Birmingham told Guardian Australia.

“I am not casting judgment or otherwise on his decision.”

Updated at 01.43 EDT

Nationals leader: Morrison’s explanation is ‘fulsome’ and matter should now ‘end’

The leader of the Nationals, David Littleproud, says Australians should “accept” Scott Morrison’s explanations for his secret ministerial portfolios.

Littleproud told the Australian that Morrison’s Facebook post that supposedly explained his reasoning was “fulsome and wholesome” and that the matter should now “end.”

While it’s hard to understand how an explanation for taking on ministerial roles in secret is “wholesome”, tellingly, Littleproud also said the Facebook post should lead to people respecting Morrison’s “legacy”:

That’s where the matter should end.

I appreciate colleagues were disappointed but I think Mr Morrison’s given a full explanation and I think we should accept that. There’s a process the government’s started and I respect that.

What we asked the former prime minister to do was give an explanation. Reading through that explanation, while he acknowledges he didn’t get it necessarily right, he acted with the right intent.

The fact he’s been able to clarify his actions in what were extraordinary times, it was important for clarification to respect those instructions and his legacy. He should be respected for it.

Updated at 01.27 EDT

BOM issues La Niña alert

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an alert, making it a 70% chance of a La Niña being declared later this year. If it eventuates, that would make it the third summer in a year that, Australia would be facing the weather event.

It would be the first time on record that three consecutive La Niña events would coincide with back-to-back negative Indian Ocean Dipoles:

Updated at 01.21 EDT

Good afternoon, Mostafa Rachwani with you for the rest of the day, and a quick thanks to Natasha May for expertly guiding us through a hectic morning.

Updated at 01.09 EDT

I am signing off and handing over to the wonderful Mostafa Rachwani who will be with you for the rest of the day!

Updated at 01.08 EDT

McCormack defends Morrison

The former Nationals leader and current member for Riverina, Michael McCormack, has just spoken with Sky News, defending former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret appointment to five ministries.

McCormack said the decisions were made in the best interest of keeping Australians alive during the pandemic.

Scott Morrison made the right decision at the right time to keep Australians alive.

McCormack says the uproar comes as a PR exercise for the upcoming book titled Plagued, which is written by political reporters from the Australian.

The Australian first reported Morrison swore himself in as health and finance minister during the early stages of the pandemic, but the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, today revealed that it was five additional ministries in total – Treasury, home affairs, health, finance and resources.

Sky News presses McCormack on the criticisms that have come from constitutional experts but McCormack has suggested another constitutional expert could provide a different opinion.

Updated at 01.02 EDT

Martin Pakula is one of the senior Victorian Labor government ministers set to resign ahead of the November state election, but networking platform LinkedIn (or at least its job-seeking algorithm) has other ideas about where his career could head.

Pakula, the former minister for tourism, sport and major events in the Andrew’s’ government, took to social media to jokingly share a screenshot of LinkedIn’s suggestion he work for the newly elected United Australia Party senator, Ralph Babet.

The position as “electorate officer B” is currently open and LinkedIn has told Pakula it is a “top pick” for him.

The election of the former real estate agent as a Victorian senator was the sole fruit of billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer’s party finally claiming a federal seat after spending an estimated $180m in the past two elections.

Updated at 00.53 EDT