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RUBY:

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

The Solicitor-General’s legal advice on Scott Morrison’s secret appointments painted a complex picture.

What Morrison did was valid, but it fundamentally undermined principles of the constitution.

So is that that? Should the country and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese move on? Or are there more questions to be answered?

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno on the inquiry to come and if Anthony Albanese is overplaying his hand.

It’s Friday, August 26.

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RUBY:

Paul, we spoke last week about the unfolding scandal over Scott Morrison's secret ministries. A lot has happened since then, including just a couple of days ago, the Solicitor-General's assessment of the situation that was made public by the Prime Minister. So let's talk about what he found.

PAUL:

Well, Ruby, the assessment by the Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue, was scathing.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“Yesterday I received the Solicitor-General's opinion on the matter of the validity of the appointment of former Prime Minister Morrison to multiple portfolios…”

PAUL:

It was released by Albanese on Tuesday. The Prime Minister said that Donaghue had found Morrison had acted legally within the very broad parameters of section 64 of the Constitution in appointing himself in secret to the resources portfolio. And that was a test case for the other four portfolios.

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“In summary, the Solicitor-General has concluded that Mr. Morrison was validly appointed by the Governor-General to administer the various departments…”

PAUL:

But he said Morrison had undermined responsible government and quote, “made it impossible for the Parliament to hold ministers to account.”

Archival tape – Anthony Albanese:

“Scott Morrison owes the Australian people an apology for undermining our parliamentary democracy system of government that we have…”

PAUL:

Now, wittingly or unwittingly. Morrison's unwillingness to trust his colleagues and the conventions of our system, well, it made him, in effect, an enemy of the state. The Solicitor General viewed the trashing of these conventions and principles as no less damning than if the former Prime Minister had actually broken this purposely ill defined law around appointments. But Ruby, it's important here to highlight just how significant it is to break these conventions.

A bit of history; our founders shared the belief of the Mother Parliament in Westminster that good government is best served by appealing to politicians' sense of honour and history. They believe strong conventions and guiding principles were the best way to guide our leaders' behaviour. Unfortunately, in both parliaments, trusting politicians who I have to say are mostly power grabbing alpha males in this way, well, it's proved to be naive optimism.

RUBY:

And so, Paul, when the Solicitor-General released his advice, Anthony Albanese also said that there would be an inquiry into all of this. So what do we know so far about that inquiry? Because things like this, they can take very different forms, can't they? So are we going to get an inquiry that has real teeth and that can actually reveal anything new about what's happened?

PAUL:

Well, a very good question. What we do know is the inquiry is to be headed by an eminent legal expert. According to Albanese, he wants this to be a legal enquiry not tarnished by politicians asking the questions. He said the legal expert would be announced soon, but how broad the enquiry is and what powers it will have will remain to be seen. We don't know yet whether the enquiry will have the powers to compel Morrison, members of his former office staff from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet or the Governor-General's office to give evidence. But there is pressure for it.

Archival tape – David Shoebridge:

“What we have seen with the exposure of Scott Morrison's secret ministries, is an attack on the core of our democracy, a very attack on responsible government in Canberra…”

PAUL:

Greens Senator David Shoebridge has said he wants to see an enquiry with the power to compel witnesses to testify, including Morrison.

Archival tape – David Shoebridge:

“We cannot have the response to that a partisan inquiry or an ill-considered inquiry established by the Government of the day. So we will be working with parties across the Parliament looking for a non-partisan solution…”

PAUL:

And we have the two independents like Monique Ryan and Zoe Daniel…

Archival tape – Zoe Daniel:

“My issue with this has been the transparency and the secrecy around it and I do think that the Australian public deserves to know and will welcome an inquiry to open that up…”

PAUL:

Well, at this point Albanese appears unwilling to drag into the frame the Governor-General, David Hurley or his official secretary. But it's hard to see how they can be left out.

RUBY:

And just on Morrison, Paul, his reaction when this legal advice came down was defiant. But is he really going to keep sitting in parliament, do you think, especially if he is compelled to give evidence in an inquiry? Could he really continue to sit on the Opposition benches while that plays out?

PAUL:

Well, he certainly could and he didn't seem to take a backward step on that after the legal advice was revealed. He didn't speak to the media. Rather, he posted on Facebook to his followers.

RUBY:

Mmm. That post, it did give us some insight into his mindset, didn't it? Can you tell me about it?

PAUL:

Well, Ruby in the post he focussed on the advice that the appointments were valid and completely ignored the advice that he undermined the conventions that make our responsible parliamentary democracy work.

In the Liberal Party views are mixed. Some say while he remains in Parliament, he's a huge negative for them. Others don't want a by-election in his seat before the New South Wales state election in March because of the damage to the brand such an election could cause, especially if the seat is lost.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Paul, the Opposition has been saying that Anthony Albanese is beginning to sound hysterical and that this focus on Scott Morrison is really indicative of a politician who is still in opposition rather than in power. Do you think that Peter Dutton has a point here? Is Labor at risk of pushing this too far when people might be more worried about things that directly affect them, things like the cost of living rather than what the person who they voted out four months ago has done.

PAUL:

Well, it is true that even in the government there are some who worry that Albanese is in danger of overplaying his hand and being seen to employ cynical politics. But I believe their fears underestimate the gravity of the issue and the Prime Minister's skills in communicating it.

Archival tape – Sussan Ley:

“Meanwhile, I think it would be good if the Prime Minister focussed on the issues that are concerning every single Australian right now…”

PAUL:

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is not so fast. She's been accusing Albanese of spending too much time on Morrison and what happened in 2020 and 2021 and not enough on what's happening now.

Archival tape – Sussan Ley:

“If Mr. Albanese wants to make this a great big enquiry and go on and on talking about everything that happened in the previous government, good luck to him. But what I know is that the people that I meet every single day are genuinely worried about cost of living…”

PAUL:

It sounded like an attack that came more out of desperation than anything else. She says you'd expect the Albanese cabinet to burst out of the room brimming with ideas on how to help struggling Australians with cost of living pressures. While this line of attack also made its way into commercial TV interviews with Albanese, Richard Marles and Mark Dreyfus, they were all asked this week if they should be so focussed on Morrison.

Archival tape –Karl Stefanovic:

“I guess there's a feeling that maybe Albo can drop it now that he's getting obsessed by Scott Morrison. Is it time just to move on, given that it wasn't against any law and they were making small changes anyway?”

Archival tape – Mark Dreyfus:

“This is serious. It's a serious breach of convention. It's a deeply alarming advice from the Solicitor-General. That's why we're going to do this.”

PAUL:

But Albanese says his Government can chew gum and walk at the same time. He bristles at suggestions he's fixated on Morrison at the expense of battlers. He points to his administration's first action when it came to office and that was a submission to the Fair Work Commission for a rise in the minimum wage. And that was successful on Monday with the media buying the details of the Solicitor-General's advice on Morrison. Well, the Prime Minister made it a second order, though still important issue to his Jobs and Skills Summit, which he says will address in real ways the cost of living pressures.

RUBY:

And Paul, how do you think the public are taking all of these rolling stories about Scott Morrison's ministries? Because ultimately the public's opinion is what matters here. So do you get the feeling that people do think that this is a scandal or are they beginning to tire of it and would they like politicians to move on?

PAUL:

Well, Ruby, the latest polling strongly pushes back on that idea. The result, strategic poll in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age was taken as the storm over Morrison's shadow government was building strength but hadn't yet fully played out. And it found an incredible nine point surge in Labor's primary vote and an eight point collapse in the Coalition's. And Peter Dutton has slumped to just 17% as preferred prime minister, with Albanese cruising at 55%. Resolve’s pollster Jim Reid says it's not uncommon for a new government to enjoy a honeymoon with voters hopeful for change under new management. But he says the size of Labor's vote gain is more than that. This is a relieved electorate, affirming they've collectively made the right choice and all the while Labor's been doing a lot. It came out of the blocks, dropping the prosecution of the lawyer, Bernard Collaery, allowing the Biloela family to stay. Getting its climate action through the House of Representatives. And there's more to come. The Jobs Summit next week builds to establish an anti-corruption commission in two weeks time. And on Thursday Albanese announced a royal commission into the robo debt scandal.

RUBY:

That announcement that was overshadowed a bit by everything else that's been happening. But it is big news, isn't it? The royal commission into the robo debt scandal.

Archival tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“Today I’m outlining the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into robo debt that we committed to while in opposition…”

PAUL:

It is huge news, Ruby. And in fact, the government's agenda has been so crowded this week that the robo debt announcement was delayed to avoid clashing with the release of the Donaghue opinion on Tuesday.

Archival tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“The royal commission will examine the establishment of the scheme, who is responsible for it, and why it was necessary…”

PAUL:

And as we know, the scheme originated from when Scott Morrison was Social Services Minister and refers to computer automating the calculation of overpayments to vulnerable people. A $1.2 billion class action by hundreds of victims saw the old government abandoned the scheme and repay the money, but not before enormous hurt and grief was caused, leading some to suicide, according to friends and relatives.

Archival tape -- Anthony Albanese:

“The human cost of this. People lost their lives.”

PAUL:

It certainly was a shameful episode that needs to be unpacked so that this sort of unconscionable money grab can't happen again.

RUBY:

Yeah, absolutely. That programme caused a lot of harm and I think there is a real case to be made for going back and sifting through what happened and trying to make sure that something like this doesn’t occur again. But when you take a step back, Paul, the Government is trying to do a lot right now. There's no doubt that their agenda is crowded and that might open them up to mistakes of their own or to attacks or to stumbles. So do you think that things are really only going to heat up from here, especially as we get closer to Labor's promised October budget?

PAUL:

Well, as you suggest, Ruby, things are going to get tougher for the Albanese Government as it inevitably takes tough fiscal measures to begin repairing the budget. There'll be plenty of noise and contestation over its decisions, and there will be losers. Well, Albanese's already taking out some insurance about expectations from a summit. He says you're not going to have a summit on Thursday and Friday and wake up on Sunday and there are no more skills shortages. But Ruby, at least we have a government making an effort to engage and well... govern. No wonder the opinion polls are running the way they are.

RUBY:

Paul, thank you so much for your time.

PAUL:

Thank you. Ruby Bye.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today...

Qantas reported a pre-tax loss of close to $1.9bn in the previous financial year. It is the airline’s third year of losses in a row, following the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the same day that the results were announced, Qantas engineers began a series of one-minute strikes as they negotiate for higher pay.

And

Ahead of the Jobs Summit next week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has attacked a union proposal to allow employees in the same sector to bargain with multiple employers at the same time.

Dutton called the proposal a “throwback”, despite claims that the plan could help to lift Australia’s stagnant wage growth.

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, 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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