Scott Morrison held five secret portfolios investigation reveals
Image: It's now been revealed that former prime minister Scott Morrison had been sworn in secretly to five portfolios. Photo: Australian Embassy Jakarta/Wikimedia Commons, published under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
By TILEAH DOBSON
The saga continues as former prime minister Scott Morrison breaks his silence over the explosive backlash of him secretly taking on several portfolios, while leaving his cabinet and the Australian public in the dark.
Speaking on 2GB Radio this morning, Morrison defended his actions and citing that the pandemic caused the unorthodox scenario that had him taking on the extra responsibilities.
“We were dealing with unprecedented times and we had to take unconventional…extraordinary measures,” he said.
“I was facing press conferences every single day. And people were expecting me to take responsibility for all that and I was certainly held to account for that. And i was certainly attacked for it.”
When asked why he didn’t say anything during the press conferences about his self-appointments, Morrison insisted that he would have spoken up if needed.
“It was there only as a safeguard and it wasn’t needed. If it needed to be–if I had to trigger then of course we would–I would’ve and it wasn’t triggered.”
Morrison was also sworn in as minister for social services back in June 2021, with an administrative arrangement order signed by Morrison and Governor-General David Hurley.
When asked about this on 2GB Radio this morning, Morrison claimed that he “could not recall” but did not dispute the reports.
“Not to my knowledge, no and I certainly didn’t exercise any,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that he’s been advised that Morrison had been secretly appointed to five additional portfolios, with treasury and home affairs included.
“I can say that today, I have been informed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet that between March 2020 [and] May 2021, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison was appointed to five additional portfolios,” Albanese said.
Along with his appointment as Prime Minister and head of Cabinet, Morrison had been sworn in as the following:
- Department of Health on the 14th March 2020
- Department of Finance on the 30th March 2020
- Department of Industry, science energy and resources on the 15th April 2021
- Department of Home Affairs on the 6th May 2021
- Department of the Treasury on the 6th May 2021
Australian of the Year for 2021, Grace Tame has not held back on the issue, having tweeted “you see now, we had to stop him from swearing himself in as Australian of the Year for 2022.”
