Australia
PM flags reforms after Scott Morrison’s secret ministry revelation
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls for reforms and investigations after revelations so that it never happens again.
Albanese will be advised by the Attorney General on Monday as to whether Morrison’s actions have raised legal or constitutional issues and will make necessary changes.
The Prime Minister said that if the Attorney General’s advice was that Mr Morrison acted within the law, he would still seek to: .
“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 a proper cabinet with a proper process.
“Obviously, we need a proper scrutiny of what happened here. This is the undermining of parliamentary democracy.”
From March 2020 to May 2021, Mr. Morrison was responsible for the Health, Finance, Treasury, Internal Affairs, Industrial, Scientific, Energy and Resources portfolios.
The former prime minister justified his decision to take over his health and finance portfolios as a necessary safeguard during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He justified appointments to the finance, internal affairs, and industrial portfolios. Because they were “key areas” where ministers had broad individual decision-making powers that were not subject to cabinet approval.
“As prime minister, I am the only one who truly understands the weight of responsibility that rests on my shoulders,” Morrison said.
opposition party leader the Australians wanted to put the scandal behind them.
He told Sydney radio station 2GB that Monday’s advice was unlikely to offer “anything more than perhaps a chance for the prime minister to get hit again”.
“Frankly, I think most people would like to move on and start working on more important issues.”
But 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.
“Obviously we need to look at all government responses,” he said.
“Mostly, it’s about the federal government.
“Different government agency responses, how it operates, 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.
PM flags reforms after Scott Morrison’s secret ministry revelation
Source link PM flags reforms after Scott Morrison’s secret ministry revelation
