Former prime minister Scott Morrison has released a statement following the report that labelled his self-appointment to five ministries as "corrosive" to trust in government.
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By Shiloh Payne
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Morrison's only use of secret powers had nothing to do with pandemic
By Shiloh Payne
Virginia Bell found the reason Mr Morrison appointed himself to most portfolios was his concern that “an incumbent minister might exercise his or her statutory powers in a manner with which Mr Morrison didn’t agree.”
His only use of the secret powers had nothing to do with the pandemic.
He overturned a decision by former Resources Minister Keith Pitt to approve a contentious gas drilling project near the north Sydney coast that would have harmed his government's reelection chances.
Asset Energy, a company behind the project, is fighting Morrison’s decision in the Federal Court.
Asset accuses Mr Morrison of bias and failing to provide procedural fairness when he blocked the project in March, court documents show.
Morrison 'assumed usual practice' would apply following Ministerial appointments, report says
By Shiloh Payne
Virginia Bell says that Mr Morrison told her through a legal representative that "neither [he] nor his office instructed the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet not to gazette the appointments".
The report says he "assumed the usual practice would apply following the relevant Ministerial appointments".
Mr Morrison says that he understood that the "usual practice" would be that appointments would be gazetted, Ms Bell says.
"This understanding was not consistent with what I was told by PM&C, which is that the announcement of ministerial appointments is the prerogative of the Prime Minister," Ms Bell says in the report.
Here are the key findings from the inquiry
By Shiloh Payne
CEO of Transparency International Australia, Clancy Moore examines the key findings and recommendations from the Bell Report.
'Responsibility must reside with Mr Morrison," report says
By Shiloh Payne
The then secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens viewed the appointments to the Departments of Health and Finance as an appropriate safeguard should Mr Hunt or Mr Cormann have become incapacitated, the report says.
But the department noted the other three appointments as "somewhat unusual" for the Prime Minister to be appointed to administer a department other than his own.
"While it is troubling that by the time of the 2021 appointments, Mr Gaetjens did not take up the issue of the secrecy surrounding them with Mr Morrison and firmly argue for their disclosure, the responsibility for that secrecy must reside with Mr Morrison," the report says.
Mr Morrison cooperated through his lawyers
By Shiloh Payne
In her inquiry, Virginia Bell recommends laws be created to require public notices of ministerial appointments to be published as well as the divisions of ministerial responsibilities.
Scott Morrison cooperated with the inquiry through his lawyers but did not personally give evidence.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has previously said the Liberal Party would support legislation that would prevent a repeat of such a secret accumulation of power.
Morrison says he welcomes the inquiry recommendations
By Shiloh Payne
Scott Morrison says he welcomes the recommendations made and thanks Virginia Bell for conducting the inquiry.
"I was pleased to assist The Inquiry with six separate and comprehensive responses to matters raised with me and my legal representatives by Hon. Virginia Bell," he says.
"This engagement was done via correspondence as was the practice with other respondents to The Inquiry and accepted by Hon. Virginia Bell. "
You can read Scott Morrison's full statement here
By Shiloh Payne
Despite inquiry, a number of facts remain unchanged, Morrison says
By Shiloh Payne
Here's a look at what Mr Morrison says, in his own words, hasn't changed despite the inquiry's findings:
- the authorities established were valid and were not found to be unlawful
- the authorities were established as a dormant redundancy and where enlivened relevant Ministers and officials were engaged
- there is no consistent or well-understood process for publication of the establishment of authorities to administer departments in the Government Gazette or otherwise
- no instruction was given by Mr Morrison as Prime Minister or his office not to publish these arrangements in the Government Gazette
- no powers were exercised under these authorities, except in the case of the PEP11 decision, or misused
- Ministers exercised their portfolio authorities fully, with Mr Morrison's utmost confidence and trust, without intervention
- as Prime Minister, Mr Morrison did not ‘Act’ as Minister or engage in any ‘Co-Minister’ arrangements, except in the specific case of the PEP11 decision and not otherwise for that department.
Morrison addresses PEP11 matter
By Shiloh Payne
Mr Morrison says his actions involving the PEP11 matter were done lawfully "from first principles".
"My intent to do so was also advised to the relevant Minister in advance," Mr Morrison says.
He says he has addressed issues surrounding communication with his ministerial colleagues privately.
"I am pleased that this matter has now concluded and I can continue, as I have since the last election, to serve the people of Cook as their federal member of parliament."
Decisions made during a period where there was a 'need for considerable urgency', Morrison says
By Shiloh Payne
Mr Morrison has noted criticisms made of his decision to be appointed into several ministries.
"These decisions were taken during an extremely challenging period, where there was a need for considerable urgency," Mr Morrison says.
"I note that the criticisms of my decisions have been made after the event and with the benefit of this perspective."
"I also note that as Prime Minister my awareness of issues regarding national security and the national interest was broader than that known to individual Ministers and certainly to the Inquiry."
"This limits the ability for third parties to draw definitive conclusions on such matters."
Scott Morrison has released a statement on social media
By Shiloh Payne
Following the release of the report, Scott Morrison has taken to social media to share his response.
"At all times as Prime Minister I sought to exercise my responsibilities in a manner that would best advance and protect Australia’s national interests and the welfare of the Australian people," Mr Morrison says.
"This was done during a time of significant challenge not seen since the Second World War and the Great Depression."
Report says appointments were 'unneccessary'
By Shiloh Payne
Virginia Bell has described the appointments as "unnecessary".
"If [Greg] Hunt or [Mathias] Cormann had become incapacitated and it was desired to have a senior minister exercise the Health Minister’s expansive human biosecurity emergency powers or the Finance Minister’s significant financial authorities, Mr Morrison could have been authorised to act as Minister for Health or Minister for Finance in a matter of minutes."
Principles of responsible government 'fundamentally undermined', report says
By Shiloh Payne
The report found Parliament wasn't informed of any of the appointments, and therefore not able to hold Mr Morrison to account as his capacity as minister administering the five departments.
"As the Solicitor-General concluded, the principles of responsible government were “fundamentally undermined” because Mr Morrison was not “responsible” to the Parliament, and through the Parliament to the electors, for the departments, he was appointed to administer," Virginia Bell's report says.
What about the governor-general's role in the appointments?
By Shiloh Payne
Virginia Bell found that each of the appointments were made by the governor-general acting on the advice of the prime minister, which is consistent with well-settled constitutional convention.
"Some commentators argued that the Governor-General should have warned Mr Morrison that the appointments were unorthodox and encouraged him to make them public," Ms Bell's report says.
"I consider the criticism of the Governor-General to be unwarranted."
She said that it wasn't until recently that it became the practice for Government House to arrange for notification in the Gazette of the appointment of an existing minister to administer a department of State when the appointment was made “on the papers”.
What has Scott Morrison previously said about the appointments?
By Shiloh Payne
The former PM addressed the revelations in August where he said people expected him to do whatever was necessary in handling the pandemic.
"I understand the offence that some of my colleagues particularly have felt about this. I understand that and I have apologised to them," Mr Morrison said.
"But equally, as prime minister, only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders and on no-one else.
"You are standing on the shore after the fact, I was steering the ship in the middle of the tempest."
Mr Morrison is yet to address the report's findings.
Portfolios had 'little if any connection to the pandemic', Virginia Bell found
By Shiloh Payne
Former High Court justice Virginia Bell refuted previous assertions Scott Morrison made that he gave himself the powers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying self-appointments to the treasury, home affairs and industry, science, energy and resources portfolio had "little if any connection to the pandemic".
She said Mr Morrison had also instructed his department to prepare a brief for his appointment to administer the agriculture, water and environment portfolio, though he decided not to proceed with it.
Department staff also advised Mr Morrison that it was "somewhat unusual for the prime minister to be appointed to administer departments outside of the prime minister and cabinet portfolio", although there was no constitutional barrier to doing so.
Reporting by political reporter Jake Evans
What were the five secret ministries?
By Shiloh Payne
During his Prime Ministership, Scott Morrison appointed himself:
- joint minister for health in March 2020
- joint minister for finance in March 2020
- joint minister for industry, science, energy and resources in April 2021
- joint minister for home affairs in May 2021
- joint minister for treasury in May 2021.
This morning Josh Frydenberg broke his silence on Scott Morrison's secret ministries
By Shiloh Payne
Former prime minister Scott Morrison's decision to secretly appoint himself to multiple portfolios during the COVID-19 pandemic has been labelled an "extreme overreach" and "profoundly disappointing" by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who has spoken about the saga for the first time.
Speaking to veteran journalist Niki Savva for her upcoming book Bulldozed, Mr Frydenberg said he was "loyal to a fault" to Mr Morrison — a close confidant he briefly lived with at the Lodge during the pandemic — and there was no reason for him to take on the treasury portfolio.
Mr Frydenberg said he had spoken to Mr Morrison twice since the story broke and, while the former leader eventually conceded he would not take on the treasury portfolio if he had his time again, he still refused to apologise.
"It's impossible properly to evaluate the decision-making during the pandemic without understanding the context in which decisions were made," Mr Frydenberg told Savva in an extract published in today's Nine newspapers.
- You can continue reading this story from political reporter Jane Normal with the link below
The final three recommendations
By Shiloh Payne
There were six recommendations in total in the report, here are the final three:
Recommendation 4: A document identifying:
- the ministers appointed to administer each department of State
- the offices the ministers are directed to hold
-
in the case of two or more ministers administering one department, an outline of the division of responsibilities between the ministers
should be published on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet's website.
Recommendation 5: A website concerning ministerial appointments should be established which contains explanatory materials and current and past records to enable the public to readily ascertain which minister is responsible for which particular matters.
Recommendation 6: All departments should publish a list of the ministers appointed to administer them on their website, and include in their annual report the name of all ministers appointed to administer the department in the reporting period.
