Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has released a report prepared by the solicitor-general that examines whether Scott Morrison broke any laws by secretly being appointed to five ministerial roles.
Look back on how Tuesday's events unfolded in our blog.
Key events
Live updates
By Bridget Judd
Catch up on the press conference
By Jessica Riga
Stay up-to-date with the latest developments
This is where we'll have to leave our live coverage for today, but thanks for following along.
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By Bridget Judd
'Our system relied upon conventions, accountability, checks and balances — those have been thrown out'
Speaking earlier, the PM said there was a clear need to ensure absolute confidence in political processes going forward.
"Our system relied upon conventions, accountability, checks and balances — those have been thrown out," he said.
ABC political reporter Nicole Hegarty has read through the solicitor-general's advice - you can catch up on the full read below.
By Bridget Judd
The Federal Opposition has agreed to work with the Government to make ministerial appointments more transparent
The solicitor-general has ruled that Mr Morrison's appointment to resources was legal, but it fundamentally undermined the principles of responsible government.
A range of potential solutions were put forward in the report, including "altering the form of the Ministry lists to ensure that they include details of all appointments under s 64 of the Constitution".
Speaking earlier, Mr Albanese said he had asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to work with the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General to adopt a practice of publishing future appointments of ministers.
Shadow Attorney-General Julian Leeser said the opposition acknowledged the solicitor-general's advice.
"The solicitor-general confirmed that the appointments were validly made but proposed various mechanisms by which practices could in future be improved," he said.
"The opposition will work with the Government on any reasonable proposals to provide clarity to processes and improve transparency in ministerial appointments."
By Shiloh Payne
Important to 'never see' secret ministerial appointments again, Marles says
Richard Marles says he understands why former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate feels uneasy about Scott Morrison's secret powers.
Ms Holgate was subject to an investigation lead by the department of finance over the Cartier watches saga.
She says she was concerned to discover Mr Morrison had been secretly sworn in to oversee the department which was investigating her conduct.
Mr Marles says it's another example of why transparency around ministerial appointments is crucial.
"I can understand why Christine Holgate would feel completely unsettled about this," Mr Marles says.
"It's an example of what can go wrong when you set up government in that way, which is really important we never see this happen again."
By Bridget Judd
The government has the option of moving a motion of censure
Greens Leader Adam Bandt has written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick, asking for the matter to be reserved the parliament's powerful privileges committee.
The government has the option of moving a motion of censure on the floor of parliament during next month's sittings.
That action, which condemns the secretive actions of Scott Morrison, would be set to pass on the government's numbers with the potential for some of Mr Morrison's former cabinet ministers, who have expressed their disappointment publicly and privately to cross the floor.
The motion would formally record the House's disapproval of the actions, but it would not have a significant impact on Mr Morrison.
By Bridget Judd
There was one specific question the solicitor-general was asked to consider
Speaking earlier, Mr Albanese said there were a number of issues that weren't canvassed in the solicitor-general's report, and they'll be explored in a future inquiry.
That's because the specific question put to the solicitor-general was: "Was Mr Morrison validly appointed to administer the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on 15 April 2021?"
Solicitor-general Stephen Donaghue found the appointment was valid under section 64 of the constitution.
"The governor-general, acting on the advice of the prime minister, has power under s 64 of the constitution to appoint an existing minister of state, including the prime minister, to administer an additional department of state," he said.
"The governor-general has no discretion to refuse to accept the prime minister's advice in relation to such an appointment."
By Bridget Judd
Former judge could be tasked with leading future inquiry
As we heard earlier, Mr Albanese has announced he intends to launch an inquiry into Scott Morrison's appointments, led by "an eminent person with a legal background".
Speaking on ABC News 24 a short time ago, ABC political reporter Nour Haydar says the terms of reference of the inquiry will be decided at a later date.
"However, Mr Albanese says that he doesn't want it to be a political inquiry and he wanted it to be headed by someone who is a legal expert. So potentially we might see a former judge conducting this inquiry."
By Shiloh Payne
Deputy PM calls for 'severe' conesquences for Morrison
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says Scott Morrison must face "severe" political consequences for undermining Australia's system of government.
Speaking prior to the release of the solicitor-general's report, Mr Marles said that regardless of the legality of Mr Morrison actions, he flouted the cabinet system, and his Coalition colleagues should not let that slide.
"Clearly, it needs to be a severe consequence," Mr Marles says.
"Because what we saw was a total undermining of the Westminster system, a complete treating of contempt of the Australian people and I don't think it's good enough that Peter Dutton says it's all fine."
By Shiloh Payne
Morrison inquiry 'politically charged'
ABC political editor Andrew Probyn unpacks the Prime Minister's press conference.
You can watch it here:
By Bridget Judd
How can the government fix the problem? Here's what the report says
The solicitor-general's report notes that there are "many ways" the government could rectify the situation.
They include:
- Altering the form of the Ministry lists to ensure that they include details of all appointments under s 64 of the Constitution
- A requirement for the website of each department to list all of the Ministers who have been appointed to administer that department
The report also suggests adopting a practice of publishing all appointments in the Commonwealth Gazette.
"... if the Governor-General were to agree to institute such a practice in relation to appointments under s 64, that would insulate the publication of those appointments from the wishes of the Prime Minister of the day (subject, perhaps, to the Prime Minister providing express advice to the Governor-General not to publish an appointment)."
By Bridget Judd
A department can't 'be administered by a person whose appointment has not been revealed'
Noting that "the principles of responsible government are fundamentally undermined" when the public and Parliament aren't notified of appointments, the solicitor-general's report also points to some of the more practical challenges.
"If multiple Ministers have been appointed to administer a single department, those Ministers (or the Prime Minister) are responsible for working out the division of responsibilities between themselves," the report says.
"However, if one Minister does not know that another Minister has been appointed to administer their department, that obviously cannot occur."
The findings continue that a department can't "be administered by a person whose appointment has not been revealed to the department itself".
"Failure to inform at least the Secretary of the department of the appointment therefore defeats the purpose of the appointment. It also prevents the department from taking appropriate steps to support and advise that Minister if the Minister decides to exercise powers under any legislation that is administered by that department (unless the appointment is disclosed at that time, as appears to have occurred with respect to Mr Morrison’s appointment to administer DISER)."
By Bridget Judd
'There was no way the public could discern' Mr Morrison had been appointed to other portfolios
The solicitor-general's report notes that since Mr Morrison became PM in August 2018, it has not been possible to determine from the ministry list that a minister "has been appointed to administer only such departments as fall within the portfolios against which that Minister’s name appears".
"That follows because, since that time, the footer to the Ministry list has denied the legitimacy of any such inference, by expressly stating that Ministers 'may also be sworn to administer other portfolios in which they are not listed'," the report says.
"The impetus for the inclusion of those words is unclear, although it seems possible that they were included so as to ensure that the tabling of the Ministry list did not mislead Parliament."
The report says the point is "starkly illustrated" by the fact that Mr Morrison’s appointments were not made public.
"The result of the analysis above is that there was no way the public could discern from the Ministry list, or anywhere else, that Mr Morrison had been appointed to administer either DISER or any of the other four departments that he was appointed to administer between March 2020 and May 2021."
By Bridget Judd
Notifying people of an appointment 'is not a condition of its validity', report says
Let's loop back to the solicitor-general's findings now.
The report notes that no action was taken by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to announce that Mr Morrison had been appointment to administer the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
It continues that the affected ministers appeared to have been "unaware of the appointment for at least some months after it occurred".
"The above facts do not cast any doubt on the validity of Mr Morrison’s appointment to administer DISER. Section 64 does not prescribe any procedures or mechanisms for giving effect to appointments.
"As a result, the appointment could be invalid only if there is an implicit condition that the valid exercise of the power to appoint an officer to administer a department of State depends on subsequent publication of the appointment. In my opinion, there is no such implicit condition."
By Bridget Judd
Key moments from the Prime Minister's update
The solicitor-general's advice on Scott Morrison's secret ministerial appointments has been publicly released (you can find that here).
Here's a bit of what we've learned from that press conference with Anthony Albanese:
-
Scott Morrison was validly appointed to the resources portfolio but not notifying ministers, parliament or the public "fundamentally undermined" the principles of responsible government
- Mr Albanese has announced he intends to launch an inquiry into the appointments, led by "an eminent person with a legal background"
-
Mr Albanese has also asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to work with the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General to adopt a practice of publishing future appointments of ministers
By Shiloh Payne
Morrison 'owes the Australian people an apology'
The Prime Minister says Scott Morrison owes Australians an apology "for undermining our parliamentary democracy system".
"And it's one thing to see this as an issue between him and Josh Frydenberg or other individuals, he misses the point here completely.
"This is about the Australian people. That's who, at the end of the day, we are accountable for."
By Bridget Judd
Albanese: 'There are a range of issues that are raised' by appointments
Mr Albanese says Mr Morrison was appointed as the "final decision-maker for grants in excess of $800 million for a manufacturing fund".
"Now, that is also, in my view, something that is an issue for accountability," he says.
He continued that there are a "range of issues that are raised" by the ministerial appointments, including questions over "the implications behind the fact that Mr Morrison at the time wasn't just prime minister, but was also industry minister".
By Bridget Judd
Will all appointments that allow someone to administer a portfolio be gazetted?
As we heard a short time ago, Mr Albanese has also asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to work with the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General to adopt a practice of publishing future appointments of ministers.
Mr Albanese says it'll apply to all appointments that allow someone to administer a portfolio.
"There are clearly a whole raft of questions which have been raised, including with the Solicitor-General's advice," he says.
"The Solicitor-General has produced this advice based upon the information which is out there, but, of course, he hasn't been able to ask questions about why this occurred or how this occurred."
By Shiloh Payne
Is the PM satisfied with the Governor-General's conduct?
Albanese has been asked about the Governor-General's conduct in this situation, here's what he said:
"The issue there is that the Governor-General in the discussions that he has with the Prime Minister of the day, normally they would be discussions that would be kept private. That is the protocol which is there."
"It's a matter forthe Governor-General or for Mr Morrison whether there is any change to that.
"I'm not privy to that information that the Governor-General has made that clear in the statements he has made when he has also said that there was no reason why he would think it would not be made public."
