Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews calls for Scott Morrison to leave Parliament altogether after portfolio saga

Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews has called on Scott Morrison to resign from Parliament after it he was found to have secretly held five portfolios.

It was first revealed Mr Morrison took steps during the pandemic to seize control of the health, finance and resources portfolios while keeping many of his Cabinet colleagues in the dark.

In a press conference, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also divulged that Mr Morrison took on Ms Andrews’ portfolio of Home Affairs and Josh Frydenberg’s Treasury.

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Ms Andrews claimed she had no idea Mr Morrison had secretly taken over her portfolio.

“I am going to ask him to resign and leave Parliament,” she told news.com.au.

“I have nothing to say to him.

“This is totally unacceptable, for a Prime Minister to behave in this manner undermines everything that a federal government constitutionally should stand for.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has however resisted calls for Mr Morrison to relinquish his seat of Cook, arguing he will wait for legal advice.

“There are bigger issues that Australian families are dealing at the moment,” he told reporters in Launceston.

“The Prime Minister has sought legal advice, he will get that back Monday and there is a process set in place and so I think we should respect the process and let’s see what the Prime Minister is able to advise next week.”

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Albanese ridiculed Mr Morrison for claiming he hasn’t engaged in “day-to-day” politics since departing from the top job.

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

In an interview on Tuesday morning Mr Albanese said it was not acceptable for Mr Morrison to argue he had not engaged in politics.

“No, it’s not acceptable for a Member of Parliament to say they’re not engaged in parliamentary processes and politics,” Mr Albanese told ABC.

“The Member for Cook is responsible for representing the people of Cook in the national Parliament.

“And his comments yesterday were, again, quite extraordinary and showed contempt for the parliamentary processes, but also the people of the Sutherland Shire deserve better than having a representative who dismisses any need for accountability and says himself, in his own words, that he’s not paying attention to day-to-day politics.”