Morrison’s power-grabbing decisions under the microscope

Anthony Albanese flagged reform and research after discovering that: Governor David Hurley left no record Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been secretly sworn into five ministries.

From March 2020 to May 2021, Mr. Morrison was responsible for the Healthcare, Finance, Treasury, Internal Affairs, Industrial, Scientific, Energy and Resources portfolios. Albanese said the seizure of power should never happen again.

One former minister, Karen Andrews, has called on her former leader to resign from parliament.

The prime minister will be advised by the secretary-general on Monday on whether Morrison’s actions have raised legal or constitutional issues and will make any necessary changes.

Albanese said if the attorney general’s advice was that Morrison acted within the law, he would still seek to change the system.

“There are separate questions as to whether the functioning, customs and practices of our democracy have been overthrown and whether the necessary reforms are needed to ensure that this never happens again.” Albanese told Sky News on Sunday.

“We will look into all these issues…I run the right cabinet with the right processes.

“Need for proper scrutiny”

“Obviously, we need a proper scrutiny of what happened here. This is the undermining of parliamentary democracy.”

Mr Albanese said his predecessor had destroyed Westminster’s system.

When asked about the legal implications of Morrison’s intervention in a gas drilling project off the coast of New South Wales, Albanese was not brought up.

He said the government will honor the contract signed under the Modern Manufacturing Subsidy, worth more than $828 million.

Nine Mastheads revealed that Morrison had final say on industry portfolio subsidies in the year leading up to the federal election.

Albanese said the deal, which has not yet been officially signed, will be reviewed by the department on its merits and a decision will be made “very soon”.

When asked whether state governments would be included along with the federal government in the Royal Commission on the Country’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Albanese said their role would also be explored.

Questions about COVID

“Obviously, we need to see the response of all governments,” he said.

“Mostly, it’s about the federal government.

“Different government agency responses, how they operate, different jurisdictions … It reveals some of the issues with our federal government, and because of the overlapping responsibilities, it is often very disproportionate. It can get difficult.”

Albanese said the royal commission will be held as soon as it becomes realistic.

-AAP