Scott Morrison: Ex-Australia PM held five additional portfolios, Albanese says

According to current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison purportedly held five secret roles in the administration.

“The unprecedented ruin of our democracy,” he characterised the conduct of his predecessor.

Following the revelations, which first became public on Monday, Mr. Morrison is getting calls to resign from his position in parliament.

But he has defended them, saying that he “acted in good faith in a crisis” and that they were taken during the COVID outbreak.

Mr. Morrison had shared the portfolios of health, finance, treasury, home affairs, and resources in the two years prior to his loss of office in May, according to information provided to Mr. Albanese on Tuesday by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

According to Mr. Albanese, “this deliberately undercuts the checks and balances that are so fundamental and important for our democracy.”

He went on to remark that keeping Australian voters in the dark about these appointments was “very uncommon.”

Some ministers, notably former finance minister Mathias Cormann, seem to have been unaware that Mr. Morrison shared their responsibilities.

Karen Andrews, a former home affairs minister, promised to encourage Mr. Morrison to resign from his position as an MP.

She claims that the actions of the prime minister “undermine all that a federal government should legitimately stand for.”

However, Mr. Morrison made an extensive Facebook post in an effort to justify his behaviour. He asserted that his efforts were designed to make sure that the government could continue to run even if COVID rendered the ministers incompetent.

According to him, there was a very real possibility that ministers could become disabled, unwell, hospitalised, unable to carry out their responsibilities at a vital time, or even pass away. He said that he made the unique choice to take on the resources portfolio in order to gain the power to oppose his minister and derail a divisive gas project.

The Australian Solicitor General will give Mr. Albanese legal advice over Mr. Morrison’s activities, according to Mr. Albanese.