News reports claim that Scott Morrison made himself co-minister for health, finance and resources in addition to his day job of prime minister.
It would be the most brazen act of CV plumping in Australian politics, except that Morrison reportedly kept it secret from voters and even from some of his own ministers.
Any substantial justification for the one-man mini-cabinet is elusive, which invites speculation it was merely the arrogance of a man who was struggling with one job but over-rated his abilities and took on three more.
We might not have been made aware of his alleged secret moves had he not, according to reporters from The Australian writing a book on the period, told them, and were it not for reporting for news.com.au which filled out the extent of his alleged ministerial haul.
Fellow Coalition members pinned to explain the Morrison self-aggrandisement – we are still waiting for the man himself to respond in detail – have cited the extraordinary demands of Covid-19.
“We were operating under a pandemic, so you can understand that some conventions may be different under a pandemic,” Ken Hogan, an opposition frontbencher told Sky News.
That was in respect to the role of co-health minister. Hogan had to admit defeat in excusing the other co-ministries.
And it should be remembered several of our 31 prime ministers have dealt with world wars and global recessions without seeing a need to enlarge their ministerial letterhead with undisclosed extra authority.
Although Hunt reportedly consented to the arrangement to safeguard against him getting Covid, it is bewildering that a prime minister would need to diminish the authority of a health minister during a pandemic by moving into his ministerial office like a squatter.
If there was a compelling justification, why wasn’t this strange arrangement revealed to the public at the time?
Some in the Liberal party must have been aware of it but perhaps were silenced by the sure knowledge that telling voters would shred the Coalition’s election chances. They already were not doing well when Morrison was known simply as a prime minister.
Few think Morrison, who once pleaded he didn’t hold a hose, could hold four jobs at once.
The same electoral imperative might have muted Morrison’s staff. It is unimaginable any grownups in his office would have considered the secret expansion in titular duties was a terrific idea.
The secrecy factor is telling. Did he suspect he was pushing constitutional boundaries and taking a punt on wrecking important, entrenched practice?
Morrison reportedly took advice from former attorney general Christian Porter, and it seems unlikely Porter would tell his prime minister he was a dill.
Morrison wasn’t the first prime minister to self-bestow multiple ministerial jobs.
When Labor’s Gough Whitlam won the 2 December election in 1972 he didn’t want to wait until all counting had been completed and on 5 December appointed a cabinet – of two.
He and his deputy Lance Barnard were the totality of the first Whitlam ministry, and began reform work taken up by the second, full ministry appointed two weeks later.
Comparing Morrison to Whitlam in any context is more amusing than productive, and the shrunken first ministry was a temporary, publicly announced measure by our 21st prime minister, unlike the alleged sneaky power aggregation by the 30th.
The 31st, Anthony Albanese, is seeking legal advice on the processes – including the role of the governor general – legal matters, and consequences of Morrison reportedly stacking up a pile of ministries.
It seems unlikely the man himself will offer to help any investigation. And it is unlikely he would be embarrassed by any negative finding, unlike his Coalition colleagues.
Scott Morrison has never been a full-blooded fan of accepted political practice, whether it involve a prime minister trying to get a mate into a White House dinner, or a prime minister somewhat miffed when required by public opinion to return from an overseas holiday to deal with a crisis in his home state.
After the 21 May election he chose to stay in Japan at a paid speaking gig rather than attend the opening week of parliament. The former prime minister who once garlanded himself with three other ministries couldn’t bring himself to perform the only job he had left, that of a local MP.
