A senior Liberal frontbencher whose role was assumed by Scott Morrison without her knowledge has called on the former prime minister to resign from parliament, as he admits the extraordinary move to jointly appoint himself to several ministries in secret was "unnecessary".
Mr Morrison appointed himself to jointly run the home affairs portfolio without ever informing then-minister Karen Andrews, she said in a statement.
"I had absolutely no knowledge and was not told by the [prime minister, the prime minister's office] nor the department secretary. This undermines the integrity of government," Ms Andrews said.
"I think that Scott Morrison needs to resign, and he needs to leave parliament.
"This is just unacceptable, and if this is the way that he is prepared to conduct himself without an adequate explanation — even though it is now going to be well past the time when such an explanation should have been made — then it is time for him to leave the parliament and look elsewhere for employment."
Former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said criticism of Mr Morrison's actions was "unfair", did not join calls for him to resign.
Mr McCormack said he knew about the co-health minister appointment, and the ABC has confirmed he was in a meeting earlier this year when Mr Morrison informed then-resources minister Keith Pitt that he would use his powers as joint minister to block a petroleum exploration licence off the NSW Central Coast
The Nationals MP said it was up to Mr Morrison to determine his future.
"It's difficult for a prime minister, particularly, to sit on the backbench and then to have their legacy trashed, in this case I would say most unfairly," he said.
The ABC understands home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo did not know Mr Morrison had been sworn in as minister for home affairs, and that the highest levels of Australia's intelligence agencies were also not aware.
On Tuesday morning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed Mr Morrison secretly appointed himself to the health, finance, treasury, home affairs and industry, science and resources portfolios at various points between March 2020 and May 2021.
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg only discovered on Tuesday that Scott Morrison had secretly assumed the treasury portfolio and is said to be "deeply disappointed".
Mr Morrison defended the move, saying it was done to establish a backup to other ministers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a "safeguard and a redundancy".
"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.
"They are very complex, detailed issues in governance … I put in place a set of arrangements that ensured all decisions could be made instantaneously. That is the real-time crisis we were dealing with."
Mr Morrison apologised to his former finance minister Mathias Cormann for keeping the move secret from him, saying he assumed the decision had been passed on by his office.
At the time he was speaking, only three of the portfolios Mr Morrison had assumed joint control of — health, finance and resources — were publicly known.
He said he could not recall whether he had assumed power over any other portfolios and that he was pursuing that matter, but said there were a number of others that had been considered.
"Fortunately, none of these [appointments] in the case of the finance and the health portfolio were ever required to be used," Mr Morrison said.
He has since posted a lengthy statement on social media justifying the unprecedented move, but admitted "in hindsight, these arrangements were unnecessary" and apologising to his colleagues.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton did not back Ms Andrews's call for Mr Morrison to resign, saying he would await the advice being prepared by the solicitor-general.
Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese should be focused on "bigger issues Australian families are dealing with".
Morrison used secret powers in decision unrelated to pandemic
But Mr Morrison also admitted that he took control of the resources portfolio in 2021 to overrule then-minister Keith Pitt to block a petroleum exploration licence off the NSW Central Coast.
He acknowledged that decision had nothing to do with the pandemic.
"That was a very different issue … it was one I sought to be the decision-maker on that issue because of the importance of that issue," Mr Morrison said.
"This is a power a minister has that is not overseen by cabinet … the minister makes their own decision and the prime minister can't direct the minister."
"I always respected Keith's role as the decision-maker, and if I wanted to be the decision-maker, I had to take the steps that I took."
He said the ministers were running their portfolios without interference, except in the single instance with the petroleum licence.
When Mr Morrison was challenged on why he kept the power grabs secret from his own cabinet ministry, he argued that they were decisions between himself and the relevant ministers and not a matter for cabinet.
He said it was an oversight that in Mr Cormann's case he did not discuss that decision.
Liberal Senate leader Simon Birmingham said he found Mr Morrison's decision to override the then-resources minister "curious, troubling and worthy of some explanation".
"Only the former prime minister, I guess, can do that in terms of the processes he went through," Senator Birmingham said.
Senator Birmingham said he recalled a discussion about Mr Morrison having himself "sworn into" the health portfolio.
But he said he was not aware of whether the former PM had also been acting in the finance portfolio after Senator Birmingham took it over from Mr Cormann.
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy also had no knowledge of Mr Morrison's self-appointment.
Mr Albanese said there was no apparent end-date for Mr Morrison's self-appointments, which means he would have had joint charge of finance while Senator Birmingham was minister.
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, former home affairs minister Karen Andrews, and former industry and science ministers Angus Taylor and Melissa Price also shared their portfolios with Mr Morrison at some point, as well as Greg Hunt, Mr Cormann and Mr Pitt.
Mr Albanese has asked the solicitor-general for legal advice over Mr Morrison's decisions.
He said that advice would be delivered to him on Monday.
