It is the book that has landed Scott Morrison in the hottest water of his political career – revealing how he appointed himself to multiple ministries in his government unbeknown to the public or his colleagues.
That disclosure has attracted the most public interest, but the book Plagued also reveals previously secret deliberations of Australia’s national security committee (NSC) of cabinet.
The details include discussions about the government’s approach to dealing with China, the decision-making process behind closing Australia’s borders in early 2020, and discussions around Australia’s defence posture.
Morrison has previously said that he provided the authors, Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers, with interviews as the pandemic unfolded, saying he cooperated with interviews “that were done contemporaneously”.
“That book was written based on interviews that were conducted at the time, in the middle of the tempest,” Morrison said.
The authors also spoke with many other senior Coalition ministers at the time.
The authors do not disclose who was the source of the information.
Leaks from cabinet are not rare occurrences and the handbook on cabinet confidentiality actually addresses “authorised leaks” by members of the government to garner favourable publicity.
But leaks from the NSC are much rarer and go against longstanding political convention, although laws related to such leaks specifically require the information communicated to be “inherently harmful” for an offence to have been committed.
Dr Keiran Hardy, senior lecturer at Griffith University’s school of criminology and criminal justice, said you “could make the academic argument” the apparent leaks breached laws, but in practice they would not be prosecuted as they were “part and parcel of politics and journalism”.
“What it does show is the very evident double standards, that governments are happy to support prosecution of whistleblowers … but when it comes to their own interests to release information, for example that they’re strong on China, they can play by their own rules and put some of that information out there to benefit themselves.
“It’s not a raft of sensitive documents or talking about operational matters – but if they’re going to play strong on secrecy for others, they should play by their own rules.”
Barrister Geoffrey Watson, from the Centre for Public Integrity, told Guardian Australia it was “just unbelievable” there appeared to be leaks from the national security committee.
“I don’t care who it might have been, whether it’s Morrison or whoever, there has to be an investigation by the appropriate authorities … You just can’t do that.”
The book provides an account of Morrison attending a “top secret” meeting of the NSC, outlining how he dialled in remotely from the Sydney Commonwealth Public Offices, Sydney where he had access to “a small, highly secure room, one level up from his office”.
“From there he could take command in front of three video screens,” the book states.
There was a subsequent discussion with the head of the home affairs department, Mike Pezzullo, about border closures to China, and a briefing by the health secretary, Prof Brendan Murphy. The book states that after the NSC meeting, Morrison phoned the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern.
The book also details comments made by Morrison at a meeting of the NSC in April 2020, in which tensions with China were discussed. “Don’t doubt China’s capacity and will to exploit Covid-19,” Morrison told the meeting, according to the book.
Morrison reportedly raised the idea of leveraging the G7 to push Australia’s position on China, with the book stating “in Morrison’s view Australia had done a lot of retreating to placate China in the past and it was time to hold its ground”.
In a later meeting of the NSC on 20 April 2020, “Morrison took a decision to up the ante with Beijing”, telling the meeting “the time had come to be more strident in its language about China’s conduct”. The book claims that the meeting was provided with an oral update on the “latest Chinese-sponsored cyber activity”.
“Morrison, acting as commander in chief, gave a sweeping interpretation of the brief, telling his most senior ministers that Australia’s democracy was being ‘infiltrated’ and that it had to be resisted.
“‘We need multiple points of pushback on this increasing aggression,’ he told them.”
At a later meeting in May, extensive comments attributed to Morrison about China are included in the book, after an NSC meeting that had been called by the then prime minister.
“‘There is no more serious issue facing the NSC,’ he told them,” the book states. “Our relationship with China and the deterioration of the wider strategic situation is the biggest challenge in a generation.”
Along with extensive quotes attributed to Morrison, the book also appears to have insights into Morrison’s state of mind at the time of various national security meetings.
“Morrison’s attitude, shared by every NSC member, was that Australia had to hold its ground and work with traditional allies and partners so the rest of the world was aware of what was at stake,” it was said of a May meeting.
The book details a “deep dive” session of the NSC “with just him [Morrison] and the defence strategists present” about a possible defence pivot, which, allegedly, did not “make him change his thinking”.
Morrison made a subsequent announcement about a new force structure plan for Defence as part of the 2020 defence strategic update (DSU).
“[Morrison’s chief of staff John] Kunkel observed that the PM had delivered no significant defence speeches during his term, so he pushed for Morrison to make the DSU announcement, rather than defence minister Linda Reynolds. This would give him portfolio ownership of Defence,” the book says.
Guardian Australia sent questions to Morrison’s office regarding potential leaks from the NSC meetings but did not receive a response.
