'Not Uncommon': Aussie Governor-General Admits Ex-PM Morrison 'Secretly Held Ministry Portfolios'

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed a legal probe amid reports that his predecessor, Scott Morrison, was covertly sworn into three ministry positions at various times in office, accusing him of “running a shadow government.”

Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley has confirmed he appointed then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison to juggle a succession of other portfolios during his time in office and defended his role in this arrangement, The West Australian reported.

“The Governor-General, following normal process and acting on the advice of the government of the day, appointed former prime minister Morrison to administer portfolios other than the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,” the governor-general’s official secretary stated.

Stopping short of clarifying which portfolios he appointed Morrison to oversee, Hurley justified his actions, saying they were made “consistently with section 64 of the Constitution.”

“It is not uncommon for ministers to be appointed to administer departments other than their portfolio responsibility,” the governor-general’s office added.

It was also emphasized that the decision whether to “publicise appointments to administer additional portfolios is a matter for the government of the day.”

'Tin Pot' Activity

David Hurley was responding to a scandal that erupted amid reports that Scott Morrison had secretly had himself sworn into three ministry positions while in government.

The Australian earlier reported that Morrison had made a secret arrangement with his then Attorney-General and WA MP Christian Porter to be sworn into health and finance Cabinet roles in March 2020 without the knowledge of some senior Cabinet colleagues.

Citing federal court filings, the paper added that last April, the governor-general, David Hurley, reportedly appointed Morrison to also oversee the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

The revelations prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to launch a legal probe, accusing his predecessor of running a “shadow government” and deploring what appeared to be an example of “the sort of tin-pot activity that we would ridicule if it was in a non-democratic country.”

“This is very contrary to our Westminster system. It is unbecoming. It was cynical and it was just weird that this has occurred… a shadow government that was operating in the shadows,” the prime minister said.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton weighed in on the scandal, appearing on ABC Radio Melbourne, saying that the-then PM must have had “his logic for it.” He also pointed out that the developments came at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that “people were having all sorts of Armageddon scenarios.”