The former prime minister has defended his actions in the context of the extraordinary circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison has resisted calls to resign from parliament after revelations he secretly appointed himself to five senior ministries without the knowledge of most of his cabinet colleagues.
Morrison on Wednesday told reporters it was decided the health and finance powers needed to be shared with him because those ministers were being given new and extraordinary powers to deal with the pandemic.He says the addition of Treasury and Home Affairs in May 2021, more than a year later, was because “they were portfolio areas where ministers could exercise unilateral decisions without reference to cabinet”.
Morrison repeated just how extraordinary the times were during his prime ministership, with pandemic, recession and drought. Morrison confirmed he discussed the initial authority for the health department with then-attorney-general Christian Porter, but says he didn’t tell him that he was later seeking authority to administer the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources even though it was at that time Porter’s own department.
Morrison said he would have taken over the resources portfolio in order to reject the offshore exploration licence even if the pandemic hadn’t existed. He said there were a number of discussions with minister Keith Pitt, and he came to the view that “I needed to consider that matter directly” as prime minister.“On that particular project, I believe it was in the national interest for me to consider it in its totality, which I did and I’m very happy with that decision.
Morrison said he lawfully exercised his powers as a democratically elected prime minister to determine who had which ministerial responsibility.
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