Australia’s PM Confirms Scott Morrison Censure Motion in Parliament After Secret Ministries Probe
Australia’s then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at a press conference in Sydney, Australia on April 27, 2021
A report, released on November 25, labelled former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secretly assuming control over the ministries of health, finance, home affairs, treasury, and industry, science, energy and resources over the period between March 2020 and May 2021 as “bizarre” and “unnecessary”, while undermining public trust in the government.Scott Morrison, Australia’s ex-prime minister, will face a censure motion in parliament this week, the current head of the Labor government has confirmed.Anthony Albanese told the media that his cabinet had agreed to the move after a probe into his predecessor’s actions in connection with the secret ministries scandal. Either the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus or Tony Burke, Leader of the House, are expected to introduce the censure motion in parliament. “This is about accountability of our democratic system, and whether the parliament was functioning properly. The former prime minister wasn’t responsible to the parliament, and through the parliament to the electors … That had [the] real consequence of acting to undermine public confidence in government, and was corrosive of trust in government,” Albanese said after Monday’s cabinet meeting.According to the PM, the six recommendations presented to the government by former High Court judge Justice Virginia Bell, who spearheaded the Morrison inquiry, have been endorsed by his cabinet, including new legislation that would guarantee all new ministerial appointments are made public.“These are serious recommendations going forward. We will introduce legislation later this week to make sure that this can never, ever happen again,” he said.Released on November 25, the report stated that Morrison had undermined public trust in the government by secretly assuming control over five key ministerial portfolios over the period between March 2020 and May 2021. The report had concluded that the clandestine appointments were “bizarre” and “unnecessary. It was added that the ex-PM had even eyed the agriculture portfolio at the time.
WorldAustralian PM Says Morrison Held Five Ministry Portfolios in ‘Unprecedented Trashing of Democracy’ 16 August, 08:38 GMTBombshell news of the secret portfolios broke in August. It was revealed that Morrison assumed control over the five key ministries while keeping the public and a greater part of his colleagues in the dark. SCott Morrison did not relinquish the portfolios until he lost power in a general election in May.In the wake of the damning findings of the report, Morrison insisted that he had offered the probe full cooperation, while also defending his actions, coming at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he claimed had not been illegal. Indeed, Justice Bell had made no such conclusion in her ultimate report.The politician who is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and currently a Member of Parliament (MP) for the New South Wales seat of Cook rejected calls for his resignation, adding:“These decisions were taken during an extremely challenging period, where there was a need for considerable urgency. I note that the criticisms of my decisions have been made after the event and with the benefit of this perspective.”Australia’s Liberal Party has stated its intention to vote against the censure motion. David Littleproud, the leader of the country’s National Party, a partner of the Liberal–National Coalition, confirmed that they would act similarly, stressing that the motion was “another layer of politicisation”.
World’Not Uncommon’: Aussie Governor-General Admits Ex-PM Morrison ‘Secretly Held Ministry Portfolios’15 August, 09:52 GMT
