Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly held five additional ministries

Published:

16 Aug 2022 13:04 GMT

His self-appointment as co-minister in the Health and Finance portfolios, among others, gave him powers to manage crucial areas of government.

Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly held five additional ministries during his tenure, a move his successor, Anthony Albanese, has called a “unprecedented destruction“of democracy, pick up local media.

Albanese accused Morrison of operating in secret while in power and concealing his government’s operations from the Australian people. Furthermore, he advised that he awaits advice on the legality of the secret appointments and what it possibly entails. In this sense, he assured that he was “open to reforms Y suggestions” to ensure that the situation does not happen again.

I agree with you reports, first revealed by News Corp. media, between March 2020 and May 2021, Morrison assumed the portfolios of Health; Finance; Industry, Science and Resources; Home Affairs and Treasury, under section 64 of the Australian Constitution, according to which, the Governor General can appoint officials to administer the departments of State.

The ex-president made the decision without disclosing it to the public and in some cases even without alerting the existing minister. There was no official announcement or record of Morrison’s swearing in for any of the five portfolios.

His self-appointment as co-minister in the aforementioned fields gave him powers to manage crucial areas of government, although few within his cabinet were aware of what had happened.

Following the revelations, the former head of government faces calls to leave his current post in Parliament. Even one of his former associates, Karen Andrews, who served as Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, commented told news.com.au that Morrison never informed him that he, too, would be appointed to the portfolio. “I am going to ask him to resign and leave Parliament,” the politician said.

For his part, Morrison apologized to his former ministerial colleagues “for any offence” and described the arrangements “as a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ safeguard” during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We were dealing with quite extraordinary circumstances and, as a result, we had to consider some unconventional options,” Morrison told the station Sydney 2GB radio.

The former Liberal leader added that the secrecy surrounding the appointments of the Health, Finance and Resources portfolios was due to the fact that he was not obliged to act in the positions he assumed.

“As prime minister, I took steps to safeguard them. If they were to be used [los nombramientos]obviously I would have revealed it, but there was no need to use them,” Morrison said, stressing that “they were just there as a security measure.”