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Image: Tina Tiller/Getty Images
Image: Tina Tiller/Getty Images

PoliticsAugust 19, 2022

A drongo’s guide to Scott Morrison’s secret-minister scandal

Guest writer
Image: Tina Tiller/Getty Images
Image: Tina Tiller/Getty Images

Thought you had a busy job? Spare a thought for poor ScoMo, who secretly took on five extra government portfolios – all while he was prime minister of Australia. Ben McKay explains.

Not content with running Australia poorly, it turns out Scott Morrison was job-sharing with his cabinet colleagues during the last government. Who knew! Certainly not his cabinet members – some of his closest allies in politics. And not even ScoMo, who forgot about a couple of his jobs until new PM Anthony Albanese reminded him. The kerfuffle has made international headlines and trashed the otherwise pristine (ahem) reputation of Australian governance. Scott, how could you???

What’s the story here?

It started with an excerpt from a new book, Plagued: Australia’s Two Years of Hell — the Inside Story, by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, two journalists at The Australian. Plagued revealed that Morrison took on the health and finance portfolios at the outset of the pandemic, which Morrison justified as a backup arrangement. “I trust you mate but I’m swearing myself in as health minister too,” Morrison apparently told his health minister Greg Hunt. What did he tell finance minister Matias Cormann? Turns out Cormann didn’t get a heads-up – and nor did Australians.

Morrison didn’t stop there. A year later, he returned to the governor general to be sworn in as resources minister, and then home affairs minister and treasurer, picking up jobs like All Blacks cards from Weetbix boxes. In a lengthy Facebook post (though only half as long as Gaurav Sharma’s) on Tuesday, ScoMo both justified the power grab – “necessary to put in place safeguards” – but also kind of acknowledged it was extra – “in hindsight these arrangements were unnecessary” – but also that he didn’t remember it – “There was a lot going on at the time.” In ScoMo’s defence, that is definitely true.

So how many extra jobs did Scott Morrison have?

On Tuesday, we thought it was three. But then the ex-PM dialled up his radio station of choice – Sydney talkback outlet 2GB – and said “there are no other portfolios I’m aware of but there may have been others that were done administratively”.

Later that day, PM Anthony Albanese held a press conference to reveal all five. Oops! Remember though, Morrison says he wasn’t actually doing the jobs he was sworn in to do, he was just there as backup in case someone got Covid or got stranded overseas due to flight cancellation or somesuch.

Oh – except that one time he used those powers which actually had nothing to do with Covid-19.

As the election loomed, Morrison vetoed a gas exploration project off the NSW coast. (Let’s pause briefly to consider the irony of Morrison intervening to *stop* a fossil fuel project.) He said he did so as prime minister, although legally, this was a decision for the resources minister, Keith Pitt. Now we know Morrison vetoed the project as the (second and secret) resources minister. According to reports, Pitt wanted to approve the project. Pitt (of nominative determinism fame) complained to his boss, Nationals leader and deputy PM Michael McCormack, who said “he’s the prime minister”. On Facebook, Morrison said he intervened “in the national interest”.

What’s been the fallout?

It’s fair to say all of Canberra has collectively lost its mind. The central charges are that Morrison has treated voters with contempt and trashed the convention that cabinet ministers should be left to do their jobs, and not be bullied by a president-style autocrat.

Albanese started out calling it “just weird” but quickly upped the attack. “I cannot conceive of the mindset that has created this… And I cannot conceive of how a cabinet allows this to happen.”

Morrison’s predecessor Malcolm Turnbull called it unprecedented, sinister, and “one of the most appalling things I’ve ever heard in our federal government”. “I’m even more astonished the governor general went along with it,” he told the ABC.

Karen Andrews, Morrison’s home affairs minister, called on him to quit. “The Australian people have been let down, they have been betrayed,” she said. It’s worth noting that Morrison started to shadow her job at the time the government threatened to lock up any Australians who tried to come home from India.

It has also spurned many a meme.

By far the most enjoyable part of all this.

Where does this story end?

The threads of this story are only just being untangled. The federal court is reviewing the legality of Morrison’s decision to intervene on the gas project. Albanese has ordered a review from the solicitor general. Crossbenchers, including teal independents and Jacquie Lambie, want a parliamentary inquiry. This is all to say nothing of the governor general, who has defended swearing Morrison into the roles. Morrison says he won’t be resigning from parliament.

However, it is clear the revelations have been unbelievably damaging to Morrison, who despite his election defeat, takes pride in his management of Covid-19 and defends it at any opportunity.

As respected gallery scribe Phil Coorey writes, it’s the secrecy that stinks. Why hide it from Australians, and why hide it from your colleagues? We can be astonished by Morrison’s move, yet we should not be surprised, given his career-long aversion to transparency.

‘Hutt Valley, Kāpiti, down to the south coast. Our Wellington coverage is powered by members.’
Joel MacManus
— Wellington editor

Still, Morrison is atoning. He has called the ministers affected to apologise. Except one. As savvy news.com.au political editor Sam Maiden notes, Morrison didn’t pick up the phone to the only female minister involved: Andrews. And he has form.

After an election campaign where he was whacked from pillar to post by influential women, and then booted out of office by them, it seems a fitting postscript. You just can’t help but wonder whether ScoMo should have asked Jenny for advice.

Ben McKay is the sole Australian in Wellington’s Press Gallery, as the New Zealand correspondent for Australian Associated Press. These are his personal views.

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Auckland mayoral candidates, left to right: Michael Morris, Gary Brown, Michael Kampkes, Ted Johnston, John Lehmann
Auckland mayoral candidates, left to right: Michael Morris, Gary Brown, Michael Kampkes, Ted Johnston, John Lehmann

Local Elections 2022August 17, 2022

‘Undemocratic’, ‘sloppy’, ‘biased’: Auckland mayoral hopefuls demand a fair go

Editor-at-large
Auckland mayoral candidates, left to right: Michael Morris, Gary Brown, Michael Kampkes, Ted Johnston, John Lehmann
Auckland mayoral candidates, left to right: Michael Morris, Gary Brown, Michael Kampkes, Ted Johnston, John Lehmann

Five contenders for the super city office have lambasted media and debate organisers, saying celebrity has been put ahead of policy.

A group of five candidates for the Auckland mayoralty have banded together to demand greater attention for their campaigns. They are calling on media and debate organisers to “provide balanced coverage” of the contenders for the office. Local election nominations closed on Friday at noon, with 23 people in the running for Auckland mayor.

In a statement calling for a “fair go”, the five candidates – Gary Brown, Ted Johnston, Michael Kampkes, John Lehmann, Michael Morris – express concern their “voices are being silenced by a media that is exclusively focussed only on the high-profile candidates” and say the mayoral race “has become about entertainment, not policy”. They request debate organisers invite them to participate and call on media to give “all candidates an equal chance to communicate policy and vision to the public … Not to do so is undemocratic.”

The latest publicly released poll for the mayoralty has the Labour-endorsed Efeso Collins leading the field, with former Far North mayor Wayne Brown second. Leo Molloy was third, but a drop in support was enough to prompt him to pull out of the race before nominations closed. The Curia/Ratepayers’ Alliance poll report, published last night, showed four of the five “fair go” candidates recording above 2%. Almost three in 10 were undecided, even when urged to state a preference.

Co-leader of the New Conservatives and target of an egging during a debate at Auckland University, Ted Johnston said that despite figuring in recent polling, “I will not stand aside quietly, and allow all the other good candidates to be ignored, and discriminated against and treated as lesser candidates”. He said: “A candidate appears to need to spend a huge amount of money, half a million or more, or have a major political party support them, and a well known campaign team, before the media will take them seriously. This is a huge affront to our very idea of democracy in New Zealand, and I will not quietly tolerate it.”

In his own statement, John Lehmann said: “Democracy depends on full, frank information to the public. It should never be vetted, disguised, manipulated, or withheld. The reason Auckland city is in the mess it’s in now is because others in the past didn’t get a fair go.” He accused media of “sloppy journalism and a clear bias” for describing Efeso Collins and Viv Beck as independent given their endorsements, by Labour and C&R respectively. He added: “The New Zealand public have become fair game in this country’s politics. Lies, half-truths, U turns, and a treat them [sic] like mushrooms has become normalized in party politics, just don’t get caught.” 

Lehmann has pledged to “make big changes and make Auckland a safe, livable affordable city”. He lists on his CV a close friendship with Australian politician Pauline Hanson and creating at the age of 26 the "Muldoon Piggy Bank" – “240,000 made and sold and holds the record for the biggest selling novelty item in NZ”.

The campaign process “favours the rich and those with deep-pocket donors”, said Michael Kampkes, who is prioritising “fighting bone-chilling housing law”. He said: “Media are fixated on the front-runner debates generally hosted by business associations. With 23 contenders it is impractical to invite everyone so media need to rethink how they report in order to ensure their reporting is fair.” The inability to register before mid-July gave those who could afford early campaigning an unfair advantage, he said. “It’s like a yacht race where the time allowed in the start area exceeds the length of the race. For modest budgets registration is often the first opportunity for recognition. Contenders should be able to register a year in advance if they wish to, and, by law, all polling should be based on all registered contenders.”

Michael Morris, who is standing on an Animal Justice Auckland ticket, said he was “the only one openly campaigning for the millions of animals tormented and brutally killed every year in New Zealand.” He added: “The public need to be aware that the loudest candidates are not necessarily those that will do the best for Auckland or for the planet. AJA urge all voters to carefully research the policies, abilities and character of all candidates before making a decision that could have far-reaching consequences.”

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For all that there was to celebrate about Auckland, too many residents “don’t like or believe in what our city has become”, said Gary Brown. “So that’s why I’m stepping in to help, with fresh energy, a fresh vision and some good old common sense.” Among the issues he is focused on is homelessness. “As your leader, I would be encouraging council to step in and work more closely with MSD, charity organisations and Police to do more than just treat the symptoms, but look at the cause of this issue,” he said. 

Brown has so far resisted encouragements to run his campaign in the persona of one of his side-hustles: Austin Powers impersonator.

‘If you regularly enjoy The Spinoff, and want it to continue, become a member today.’
Toby Manhire
— Editor-at-large

All candidates in the local elections will be invited to outline their case to voters as part of the Policy.nz project, which will be launched on The Spinoff in the weeks ahead. 

The full list of Auckland mayoral candidates is as follows: ​John ​Alcock, Viv Beck, Gary ​Brown, Wayne ​Brown, Tricia ​Cheel, ​Efeso ​Collins,​ Michael Coote, Tony ​Corbett, ​James Malcolm ​Dunphy, David John ​Feist, ​Alezix Heneti, Robert Hong ​Hu, Ted Johnston, ​Michael ​Kampkes, John ​Lehmann, Lisa ​Lewis, Craig Lord, ​Pete ​Mazany, ​Michael ​Morris, Phil ​O'Connor, John ​Palino, Ryan Earl ​Pausing, Dani ​Riekwel.

Follow our politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.

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