Morrison ‘undermined’ democratic system

The Scott Morrison ministerial appointments scandal will face a further inquiry in the wake of a scathing report into his actions by Australia’s Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue.

Dr Donaghue’s legal opinion of Mr Morrison’s decision to secretly appoint himself to five other portfolios was publicly released by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today.

While Dr Donaghue did conclude that Mr Morrison’s appointments were valid, he raised broader concerns.

“An unpublicised appointment to administer a department therefore fundamentally undermines not just the proper functioning of responsible government, but also the relationship between the Ministry and the public service,” Dr Donaghue said.

Mr Albanese reacted by saying an inquiry will be established and run independent of government by an eminent person with a legal background “to consider all the implications”.

He said it was still unclear “how this occurred and why this occurred?"

“The advice is a very clear criticism and critique of the implications that are there for our democratic system of government of what happened under the former Morrison government,” the prime minister said.

Crucially, Dr Donaghue found the governor-general had not acted inappropriately.

“The governor-general has no discretion to refuse to accept the prime minister’s advice in relation to such an appointment,” the solicitor general found. “Nor is there any constitutional or legislative requirement for notification of such an appointment as a condition of its validity, or for the minister to subscribe another oath or affirmation following such an appointment.”

But Mr Albanese said the former prime minister’s actions must have consequences.

“Quite clearly, I think Mr Morrison’s behaviour was extraordinary, undermined our parliamentary democracy and he does need to be held to account for it,” Mr Albanese said.

Whether Mr Morrison resigned from parliament was a matter for him, the prime minister said.

Dr Donaghue said the self-appointments ordered by Mr Morrison should have involved the various ministers being made aware and the structuring of a plan to make the appointments work in harmony.

“However, if one minister does not know that another minister has been appointed to administer their department, that obviously cannot occur,” he said.

“The point is starkly illustrated by the fact that Mr Morrison’s name did not appear in the ministry list published in October 2021, with respect to any of the five departments that he was appointed to administer between March 2020 and May 2021.”

Mr Albanese was satisfied that the governor-general had acted on advice from the government.

In a statement in response, Mr Morrison said he accepted lessons would be learned in hindsight.

"The solicitor-general has noted a number of these points from his perspective in his advice and I am sure this will help guide any changes in these areas," the former prime minister said.

"The authorities at issue were put in place as an emergency power to be used only in extreme circumstances due to incapacity or in the national interest. These authorities were only sought with respect to where Ministers could act unilaterally, without reference to or interference by cabinet or the prime minister.

"The suggestion that ministers could be instructed or directed on these matters is false."