Scott Morrison sworn into five secret ministries while prime minister

Scott Morrison has apologised “for any offence” he caused his colleagues by secretly appointing himself to five additional portfolios while he was in the top job.

The former prime minister swore himself into home affairs, treasury, health, finance, and the entire department of industry, science, energy and resources between March 2020 and May 2021.

Mr Morrison issued a 1279-word statement on Facebook on Tuesday afternoon, saying he granted himself the extra powers “in good faith”.

Mr Morrison maintained he considered it “necessary” at the time to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, but he didn’t explain why he kept the unprecedented arrangements secret.

“For any offence to my colleagues, I apologise. I led an outstanding team who did an excellent job and provided me great service and loyalty as ministers,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison on Tuesday morning told 2GB Radio “I don’t recall” being sworn into any other portfolios beyond health, finance, and resources.

It was revealed less than three hours later that he had also appointed himself as a secondary minister for treasury and home affairs.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg is the latest ex-cabinet member to admit he didn’t know about Mr Morrison’s actions.

The former prime minister never told his right-hand man he had himself sworn in as a second treasurer of Australia in May 2021, according to The Australian newspaper.

Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews said earlier on Tuesday that Mr Morrison had blindsided her and betrayed her trust.

Ms Andrews called on Mr Morrison to resign from parliament over the revelations he secretly appointed himself to her portfolio in May 2021.

Peter Dutton told reporters on Tuesday he wouldn’t ask Mr Morrison to resign, arguing there were more important issues to Australian families such as cost of living pressures.

The Opposition Leader said Mr Morrison’s decisions were made in a “warlike situation” at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said he would wait until Mr Albanese received legal advice on Mr Morrison’s actions from the solicitor-general next week before commenting further.

Mr Albanese said the revelations were of an “extraordinary and unprecedented trashing of our democracy” and accused the Morrison government of operating in secret.

The Prime Minister announced on Tuesday morning he had received advice from his department confirming Mr Morrison had appointed himself to five additional portfolios.

Mr Albanese accused his predecessor of being the “world’s first stealth bulldozer” whose colleagues “sat back and watched” as power was centralised within their government.

He said Mr Morrison created a cabinet committee of one person – himself – that allowed him to make the appointments.

Mr Morrison’s appointments into the additional portfolios extended up until the federal election, Mr Albanese said.

“My advice is that it did extend. That these appointments were made and they did not end,” he said.

He said he was open to administrative reforms to ensure MPs were obligated to publicly reveal who is sworn into a portfolio at any given time.

He defended Governor-General David Hurley’s part in the affair, saying it was his role to act on advice from the then government of the day.

“I think it’s very clear, here, that the responsibility for this undermining of our parliamentary democracy rests with those people in the Morrison government, including the former prime minister, who were a party to this,” he said.

Scott Morrison’s cabinet of secrets

Asked if Mr Morrison should reconsider his position as an MP, Mr Albanese said: “I think the people of Cook deserve to be represented by someone who is interested in our parliamentary democracy and in day-to-day politics.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Morrison broke his silence on the unfolding scandal to defend his actions.

“We were dealing with quite extraordinary circumstances, and as a result we had to consider some rather unconventional options,” he told 2GB.

Mr Morrison claimed he kept the additional ministerial appointments a secret because he wasn’t required to act in the portfolios he took over.

“There are specific responsibilities given to the ministers which will separate the cabinet and there were quite extraordinary powers being used,” he said.

“As prime minister I put steps in place to safeguard those. Should they have to be used then I would have obviously disclosed that, but they didn’t need to be used.”

Mr Morrison used his powers as a secondary resources minister to override the then official resources minister Keith Pitt and stop the controversial PEP-11 gas exploration project off the coast of NSW.