Scott Morrison has defended his decision to secretly hold at least five ministerial roles during the Covid pandemic by saying they were “unconventional times” and were only “safeguards”.
The former Australian prime minister has come under fire from members of his own party and opposition after government documents revealed he had secretly assigned to himself not just the health, finance and resources portfolios, as previously revealed, but home affairs and treasury portfolios as well.
In addition to the five portfolios, Mr Morrison also said he did not remember being sworn in as social services minister but he is “happy if there are other [portfolios] to be out there”.
“I don’t recall that but I mean, as I said, there was some administrative issues done. I don’t dispute that,” he admitted.
Australia’s current prime minister Anthony Albanese said his predecessor’s actions had “undermined our democracy”.
Mr Morrison spoke out after days of outrage on Tuesday, defending not making the arrangements public and claiming he never used any of the powers, except on one occasion.
In a statement, he said he regretted his actions had caused concern, but said he had “acted in good faith in a crisis”.
“We were dealing with an incredible amount of discretion and money being paid,” Mr Morrison told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“They were unprecedented times and as a result they were very unconventional times.
“None of these, in the case of the finance and health portfolio, were required to be used. They were there as a safeguard, they were there as a redundancy.”
He confirmed taking the health and finance portfolios in the early stages of the pandemic and took responsibility over the resources portfolio because he had to take urgent decisions about the PEP-11 gas exploration project in 2021 – a controversial project opposed by locals and challenged in court.
After a review of the matter by the prime minister’s department, Mr Albanese told reporters his predecessor had taken on the health and finance portfolios in March 2020, the resources portfolio in April 2021 and the home affairs and treasury portfolios a month after that.
He said he received a briefing from his legal team about it on Monday and is to receive another briefing on Tuesday morning.
“Its completely extraordinary that these appointments were kept secret by the Morrison government from the Australian people,” he said.
The members of his party, including former home affairs minister Karen Andrews and former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, said they had no knowledge of Mr Morrison’s secret role and demanded his resignation.
“You can’t govern in a veil of secrecy,” Ms Andrews, a Liberal Party lawmaker, told ABC radio after Mr Albanese’s press conference.
Former health minister Greg Hunt said he was unaware of Mr Morrison taking over the health portfolio.
The ex-prime minister said it was an “oversight” that ministers weren’t informed their roles were duplicated.
“I believe I made the right decision in the national interest. This was the only matter I involved myself directly with in this or any other Department,” he said in the statement.
Mr Morrison took over the resources minister role while there was another minister in-charge and admitted he used his power to stop approval for a gas exploration project off the coast of Australia.
It is believed that he opposed the renewal permit because of its unpopularity in the run-up to the elections.
