Former prime minister Scott Morrison says people expected him to do whatever was necessary in handling the pandemic, including his secret move to give himself extra powers to administer several other ministries.
Mr Morrison has rebuffed calls from within his own party to resign, saying he remained proud of his response to COVID-19.
"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 said the fact that cabinet ministers did not know about his self-appointments was proof he had not interfered or intervened in other ministries, except in one instance.
The former prime minister also said he did not lie when he said yesterday he could only recall giving himself powers to administer health, finance and resources, and did not recall also taking treasury and home affairs powers.
He asserted that it was expected of him to take charge of the pandemic response, and "there were gaps" in government process.
"There was a clear expectation established in the public's mind, certainly in the media's mind, and absolutely 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'd rather have this discussion about what I did do than what I didn't do."
Mr Morrison's former deputy Barnaby Joyce defended the ex-prime minister this morning, despite Mr Joyce being in the dark himself about the manoeuvres.
Mr Joyce was acting prime minister when Mr Morrison was out of the country, but he told ABC Radio that he only knew of Mr Morrison's self-appointment to resources, and not that he had also given himself control of health, finance, treasury and home affairs.
Mr Morrison has been called on to resign by former home affairs minister Karen Andrews, whose role Mr Morrison took without her knowledge.
The former deputy prime minister did not agree that Mr Morrison needed to resign, unless it emerged that he had done something illegal.
"Obviously I don't agree with the prime minister taking on roles here, there and everywhere, I believe in a cabinet system of government … but Mr Morrison has not broken any law," Mr Joyce said.
"There's nothing illegal about it. Improper? Well, that's a question to take up with Mr Morrison."
But Mr Joyce said the decision to use those secret powers to overrule then-resources minister Keith Pitt to block a petroleum exploration licence was a mistake.
"I think the minister is the person who should have carriage of these issues, because they have a more acute knowledge of the particular details," he said.
"It shouldn't have been Scott Morrison, it should have been Keith Pitt."
Mr Morrison admitted giving himself resources powers was not an emergency decision made because of the pandemic, but said he believed he was right to intervene.
"I don't regret that for a second, and I don't think anyone who went surfing off the New South Wales coast this week up around Newcastle or the central coast or off the northern beaches would take any issue," Mr Morrison said.
Nationals backbencher Matt Canavan, a vocal advocate of the coal and gas industries, said there were serious questions to be asked about the blocked exploration licence.
"I still think there's a lot of questions about that. We have got Liberal members in the paper today saying effectively this decision was made to save their seats," Mr Canavan said.
"That's not how decisions should be made on our major natural resources."
Newcastle and central coast locals have mounted a fresh campaign calling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to ensure the project remains dead, fearing the fresh revelations could influence a court challenge against the ban.
Mr Joyce said that possibility was further proof the decision should have been left to the minister.
Mr Albanese is seeking legal advice from the solicitor-general on Mr Morrison's portfolio grab and its consequences, which is due to be delivered to him on Monday.
The Greens have asked Mr Albanese to recommit Labor to opposing the exploration licence, known as PEP-11.
"While Anthony Albanese seeks legal advice on this matter, he should put the minds of those in Northern NSW at ease by immediately recommitting opposition to PEP-11," Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said this week.
The Prime Minister said he did not trust Mr Morrison that PEP-11 was the only decision he had made with the secret powers, but did not say whether Labor would uphold the blocked permit.
Mr Albanese told media Mr Morrison's electorate of Cook deserved a better representative.
"If I was a voter in Cronulla, or Caringbah, and I heard my local member say he didn't follow day-to-day politics, then I think I would want something a bit better than that," Mr Albanese said.
