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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.

It's the rolling scandal that’s dominated the week in politics, and permanently marked Scott Morrison’s legacy.

This week it emerged that while in power the former Prime Minister secretly swore himself into five different ministries - Health, Finance, Resources, Treasury, and Home Affairs.

The public didn’t know, his former government colleagues didn’t know – and in most cases the very ministers in those portfolios also didn’t know.

Today - Columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno on the perplexing question of why Scott Morrison kept secretly giving himself more ministerial powers – and what it tells us about the man who was our Prime Minister.

It’s Friday, August 19.

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RUBY:

Paul, you first went to Canberra to cover politics 30 years ago now. In that time have you ever seen anything like what's unfolded this week?

PAUL:

Ruby, I can honestly say to you I certainly have not. When I realised the implications myself, I was like everyone else, absolutely gobsmacked. And you know, veterans of the gallery that have been here a lot longer than me, like Michelle Grattan and Paul Kelly - they were actually here 50 years ago for the dismissal of the Whitlam government - and they are simply gobsmacked that this secret government was conceived, implemented and thought to be a good idea.

RUBY:

Okay, so let's talk about how the secret came out. It all began with this article in The Australian didn’t it, which had this information that Scott Morrison had sworn himself in to the health ministry and finance ministry at some point during the pandemic?

PAUL:

Yeah, Ruby. On Saturday there was a report in The Australian that Scott Morrison swore himself in to act as Health Minister and Finance Minister during the early days of the COVID pandemic, as a way it was claimed in the article to be prepared for the worst and make sure there was someone else able to act in the two most important portfolios during the crisis. Ruby at first, not many in the media realised the importance of what had just been revealed. On Sunday, acting Prime Minister Richard Marles was on morning TV, as was Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, and neither was asked about it by journalists.

But I have to tell you, someone who did immediately twig to the implications, was Anthony Albanese. I'm told that when he read the story over his breakfast he couldn't believe his eyes. In a Westminster style democracy, cabinet ministers have real powers, but they exercise these powers in the context of the cabinet, which is a check and balance, and they are accountable for them to the Parliament and via that process to the people of Australia.

Well, on Monday morning everything shifted.

Archival tape -- Andrew Clennell:

“So this morning we revealed, Tom, that Mathias Cormann, as Finance Minister and Government Senate leader, did not know that Scott Morrison had sworn himself in as Finance Minister during the pandemic…”

PAUL:

Further revelations emerged that Morrison had not even told his own Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, that he'd also been sworn in to act in Cormann's portfolio.

Archival tape -- ABC News Reporter:

“But this little story continued when it became clear that internally there was a spat over the PEP11 gas project…”

PAUL:

It also came out that Morrison had sworn himself into a third ministry. The mega Ministry of Resources, Energy and Water.

Archival tape -- ABC News Reporter:

“The ABC understands Mr. Morrison secretly assumed the resources portfolio in April last year to overturn Keith Pitt's intention to approve the PEP11 gas project…”

PAUL:

Keith Pitt, who was the resources minister in that portfolio at the time, said he hadn't been told of this either. He only found out when Morrison shocked him by telling him that he'd taken a decision over a gas exploration permit out of Pitt's hands because he was also the minister.

Archival tape -- ABC News Reporter:

“For as well as being PM. Mr. Morrison had himself secretly sworn in as Resources Minister, Finance Minister and Health Minister…”

PAUL:

While people were demanding Morrison explain when its extraordinary implications were realised. He declined an invitation to go on Sky News, texting the journalist Kieran Gilbert, quote "since leaving the job I haven't engaged in day to day politics". Of course he's still in Parliament on the Opposition backbench as the local member for Cook and he's on a base salary of $210,000.

Anthony Albanese I think quite reasonably said if he doesn't want to do his job, his paid day-job, he should consider his position.

RUBY:

His silence didn't last long though, did it, Paul? Because as more and more details of these secret arrangements came out, he eventually did have to explain himself.

PAUL:

Well, that's right. More revelations meant he couldn't stay silent. In fact, I'm told Peter Dutton urged him to say something quickly. The Governor-General admitted he'd sworn Morrison into several ministries but said it wasn't his job to publicise the appointments. And Anthony Albanese said the Government was seeking legal advice.

Archival tape -- Ben Fordham:

“Scott Morrison is live on the line. Mr. Morrison, good morning to you.”

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“G'day Ben…”

PAUL:

By Tuesday morning, Morrison finally emerged to talk to Ben Fordham on commercial radio, and give his side of the story.

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“Well, I think sometimes we forget what was happening two years ago and the situation we were dealing with. It was a very unprecedented time…”

PAUL:

He was asked by Fordham whether he'd taken on any more ministries than the three the public knew about.

Archival tape -- Ben Fordham:

“Are there any other portfolios that you assumed any control over?”

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“Not to my recollection, Ben. I'm pursuing that, but not to my recollection. There were a number that were considered at the time to safeguard reasons, but I don't recall any others being actioned.”

Archival tape -- Ben Fordham:

“So health, finance, resources.”

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“That is my understanding. But if that if that, if there's anything different to that, then, you know, and I'm happy for that to be disclosed…”

PAUL:

Then at a news conference an hour or so later, Anthony Albanese revealed the full extent of Morrison's secret ministries.

Archival tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“I can say that today I've been informed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet that between March 2020 and May 2021, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was appointed to five additional portfolios…”

PAUL:

Morrison had been appointed to act in five portfolios, including the portfolio of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Archival tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“I cannot conceive of the mindset that has created this. I cannot conceive of the way that the government has functioned, that have led to a point whereby someone says ‘I’m the Prime Minister of Australia, I’d also like to be in charge of health, finance, treasury, industry, science, home affairs, resources…’”

PAUL:

Now Frydenberg, by all accounts, was livid when he discovered he was left out of the loop. You know, the two lived together at The Lodge during the lockdown last year. He was supposed to be Morrison's close mate, and he did hold the second most important portfolio in government. Morrison still hadn't told him. No wonder he’s still livid.

Archival tape -- Karen Andrews:

“The issue really is that he swore himself into these portfolios. There seems to have been absolutely no discussion with any cabinet ministers.”

PAUL:

The strongest reaction from within the old government, though, came from Morrison's Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews, and she didn't hold back.

Archival tape -- Karen Andrews:

“It certainly doesn't help democracy and I am very concerned about the impacts of this going forward. And to be honest, I feel that the Australian people were betrayed…”

PAUL:

She said this undermines the integrity of government. She called on Morrison to resign from Parliament because, quote “The Australian people have been let down. They have been betrayed.”

Now the damage Morrison is doing to the Liberal Party is hard to calculate. While he remains in Parliament, he's a lightning rod for further controversy and he may even be formally censured. And the problem for the current Liberal leader Peter Dutton controlling this damage is that it can no longer be solved by minimising or excusing the former Prime Minister's unprecedented behaviour.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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Archival tape -- News Reporter:

“Well, Scott Morrison is clinging to his job this morning. Many of his colleagues are calling for him to resign-...”

Archival tape -- Andrew Bolt:

“He’s finished. Quit parliament now. Just go.”

Archival tape -- Karen Andrews:

“I think the actions that he undertook in swearing himself into numerous portfolios and not disclosing those to the ministers responsible means that he needs to resign and he needs to leave…”

RUBY:

Paul, Scott Morrison has been told that he should resign from Parliament by former colleagues and also by some of his biggest supporters in the media. But for now, he says he's not going anywhere and that he's going to continue on as the member for Cook. But is that tenable, do you think, that Scott Morrison can continue on as a member of Parliament as all of this happens?

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“Thank you for joining me here today. I wanted to take the opportunity to address the matters that have been raised in recent days…”

PAUL:

Well Ruby, by mid-week, Morrison fronted up to a press conference to finally answer questions…

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“As we sit here now and the relative calm seas or perhaps from the safety of the shore and we look back at a time which was a raging tempest, people can be led to make judgements out of context, but the context was very real. I was very mindful of it…”

PAUL:

…but in attempting to defend his actions, Morrison was still evasive and self-serving.

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“As Prime Minister, only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders and on no one else. And as a result, I took the decisions that I thought I needed to take…”

PAUL:

But Morrison conceded there were lessons to be learnt out of this. He had no satisfactory explanation, though, for the secrecy not only keeping it from the public but from his colleagues. It is a breach of trust, and the whole affair shows an amazing lack of confidence in his own hand picked senior ministers, despite his protestations to the contrary.

Archival tape -- Journalist:

“I want to know whether he said to you, whether he said to you, shouldn't we make this public? Can you at least tell us that, you keep the secret about this whole business?”

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“You are asking me to go into conversations between me and the Governor-General, which I'm not…”

Archival tape -- Journalist:

“So can we assume you did?”

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“No, you can't assume anything, Andrew. And I'm not going to. Well, I'm not going to be…”

PAUL:

His only defence for taking on extraordinary powers was in the end he didn't exercise them except in the case of Keith Pitt. So there's an immediate contradiction there.

Archival tape -- Scott Morrison:

“Andrew, that is not something that any former Prime Minister would responsibly answer in divulging conversations with the Governor-General. And you can draw no conclusion from that. You can assert nothing about that. You can impugn nothing about it because if you did so, then you would be in err…”

PAUL:

Further damage to Morrison's reputation. Probably depends on what we find out in the next few days. Already it's emerging that key public servants had no idea Morrison had the power to act in their portfolios. We learnt the country's spy chief, at ASIO, didn't know Morrison was his secret Minister. Albanese asked the Solicitor-General for a report into the legal implications of all of this, which would be handed to the Prime Minister on Monday.

RUBY:

And so was this actually legal, Paul? How exactly did Scott Morrison appoint himself to five ministries without some of these ministers knowing about it? And what could the solicitor general find?

PAUL:

Well, the explanation, Ruby, that we have is that Morrison used an administrative instrument that was signed off by the Governor-General, David Hurley, and that allowed for an additional minister to be assigned without the need to remove the primary Minister or the person who already had the job. The Governor-General says these appointments didn't require a swearing in ceremony and that he acted on the advice of the government. And it's worth saying that if Hurley did go against advice from the government it would have risked a constitutional crisis.

But by Wednesday afternoon, Hurley said that at the time of the appointments he had no reason to believe that the Morrison government wouldn't make the arrangements public. Which puts the onus back on Morrison. Now, even if the Solicitor-General reports back that Morrison, in advising the Governor-General to make him a secret clone Minister, was acting constitutionally. Well, this precedent can't be allowed to go unchecked. At the very least, there should be legislation requiring the publication of all ministerial appointments, and that goes for acting ministers. This was something that many of us had presumed would happen whenever someone is appointed a minister. But we've seen yet again, unscrupulous or misguided people have no quibbles about trashing conventions.

RUBY:

Ok. And Paul, at the end of all of this, I keep coming back to this one question and I’m sure I’m not the only person thinking it, why would Scott Morrison do this? If he wasn’t actually planning on using any of the powers in these portfolios, except in the case of that one gas project. Why did he keep adding more and more ministries to his portfolio in secret, keeping this a secret from the ministers in those portfolios, from cabinet more broadly and I suppose most importantly, from the public?

PAUL:

Indeed, Morrison himself at his news conference midweek said, you know, with hindsight it was unnecessary. So do you know what, Ruby? I don't think he knows himself why he did it, except it's of a piece with the man. He was secretive. He was better than everybody else. And he resented anyone questioning him.

We elect our governments to act on our behalf and they're supposed to give account back to us. There is something confusing about all of this. I spoke to Wayne Swan, the former Deputy Prime Minister and treasurer of the country for a number of years, and he can't believe that Morrison saw that he needed to do this, because the Prime Minister, after all, is the pre-eminent, the first amongst equals. Maybe independent Senator Jacqui Lambie got it right; Morrison is a control freak. And you know this fed the megalomania of the man. Very disturbing.

RUBY:

And, Paul, you think there'll be more to come in the next few days? We haven't seen the end of the story yet.

PAUL:

Ruby, I don’t know. Nothing would surprise me, but I've got to tell you, a few things could still shock me.

RUBY:

Paul, thank you so much for your time.

PAUL:

Thank you, Ruby. Bye.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today...

Scott Morrison has now apologised to former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews for appointing himself to her portfolio in secret.

The apology came after the Opposition leader Peter Dutton said Morrison had made the ‘wrong call’ appointing himself to the five ministries, and urged him to pick up the phone.

Until yesterday, Scott Morrison had not contacted Karen Andrews, though he had directly contacted former MP Josh Frydenberg and former senator Mathias Cormann to apologise to them.

**

And Chinese troops will travel to Russia to take part in a joint military exercise together with India, Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other countries. The exercises aim to deepen strategic collaboration between the countries.

The Chinese government maintains that its participation in the joint exercises are unrelated to the current international and regional situation.

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7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Alex Gow, Alex Tighe, Zoltan Fecso (fetch-oh), and Rachael Bongiorno.

Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Brian Campeau mixes the show. Our editor is Scott Mitchell. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See you next week.

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