Former Australian PM Defends Decision to Swear Himself Into 5 Portfolios

Decision made in response to unrealistic public expectations drummed up by media

Former prime minister and federal Member for Cook Scott Morrison speaks to media during a press conference in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 17, 2022. AAP Image/Flavio Brancaleone

Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says his decision to secretly swear himself into five ministerial portfolios was in response to “extraordinary” circumstances, as well as unrealistic public expectations drummed up by media and the opposition.

“It was a very difficult time. It was a very unusual time. It was a very extraordinary time that tested every sinew and fabric of governments, not just at a federal level but at a state level as well. And in tested the very fabric and sinew of Australian society,” he told reporters on Aug. 17.

He said the situation was “very real” and that events “changed hourly, if not even more frequently than that.”

“As you know, the National Cabinet met 57 times under my direction,” he said. “And that highlights that this pandemic and this crisis. It wasn’t a two-month thing. It went over more than two years all the way, indeed, up until the time of the election and in its own form today continues.”

Morrison said people could make “judgements out of context” but noted that the context was “very real.”

“There was a clear expectation established in the public’s mind, certainly in the media’s mind, and absolutely certainly in the mind of the opposition, as I would walk into Question Time every day, that I, as prime minister, was responsible pretty much for every single thing that was going on, every drop of rain, every strain of the virus, everything that occurred over that period of time,” he said.

“I believed it was necessary to have authority, to have what were effectively emergency powers, to exercise in extreme situations that would be unforeseen.”

No Interference, Morrison Says

Morrison was allegedly secretly sworn into five ministerial roles over the course of the pandemic—the health, finance, treasury, home affairs and industry portfolios—a situation his fellow Cabinet members were unaware of.

The former prime minister said that at no time did he exercise those powers or interfere in the decisions of his ministers, barring the decision to torpedo the PEP 11 Gas Project. Further clarifying that at no time were two ministers running the same portfolio.

“For example, Ben Morton was the Assisting Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and he was also the Minister of Public Service—that did not make him the prime minister despite the fact he was sworn to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet ... It didn’t make Michael Sukkar, who was the assistant treasurer, the treasurer,” he said.

Current Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pounced on Morrison’s response saying the “first rule of power-grab club is you don’t talk about power-grab club.”

“And Scott Morrison broke that rule today. Scott Morrison was evasive, he was defensive, he was passive aggressive, and, of course, he was self-serving. So, at least he was true to himself today,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

“It’s one thing to have a Shadow Ministry. This was a Shadow Government, so that [Treasurer] Josh Frydenberg, [Finance Minister] Mathias Cormann, and [Home Affairs Minister] Karen Andrews and others, weren’t even told, nor were the secretaries of departments like Treasury and Home Affairs.”