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chosen by "god", rejected by the "people"…..

There is a special irony at the heart of Scott Morrison's secret accumulation of multiple ministries: it started as an exercise in decentralising power, not concentrating it. 

In early March 2020, when the threat of the pandemic was becoming clear, former attorney-general Christian Porter decided to have an audit of the Commonwealth's powers, to understand how the federal government could respond to the health emergency.

All manner of worst-case scenarios were being war-gamed: What capacity was there to protect particularly vulnerable communities such as remote Indigenous townships? Were travel blockades possible? And under which legislative authority?

 

By political editor Andrew Probyn

 

What powers did the Commonwealth have to call in the Australian Defence Force if coronavirus ripped through a prison? Could military personnel be asked to watch over prisoners?

Astonishing powers discovered as pandemic erupted

A three-day audit conducted by Porter's office and personnel from the Australian Government Solicitor quickly uncovered the astonishing powers wielded by then-health minister Greg Hunt by virtue of the Biosecurity Act.

Provided he had the requisite health advice, Hunt could slam international borders shut or declare biosecurity measures that banned or required certain behaviour or practices. He could force a person or category of people to "keep specified records".

In short, they were considered "God-like powers", which whistled through parliament in 2015 with little expectation they would be activated.

"It is expected that the human health provisions contained in the bill will be seldom used," Barnaby Joyce, then agriculture minister, told parliament at the time.

By 2020, Porter and Hunt jointly decided the powers under the Biosecurity Act were so immense that there needed to be a broader framework of responsibility and oversight around them.

One idea was to delegate the power to cabinet but this was not possible because under the act, the health minister's powers in a declared human biosecurity emergency "may only be exercised by the Minister personally".

Instead it was decided to use a provision within the Biosecurity Act to delegate Hunt's responsibilities concurrently to another minister, and that this person would be the PM, Scott Morrison.

This mechanism was guided by advice from the Attorney-General's department and the Australian Government Solicitor.

It was seen as a neat solution that would achieve three ends: first, that there was a second minister in reserve should Hunt be incapacitated by COVID-19; secondly, that minister would not be Richard Colbeck, in whom colleagues lacked sufficient faith; and thirdly, that the duplicate minister would be already across all the incoming briefs on the pandemic and biosecurity threat.

Senior ministers sat around table to decide secret powers for Morrison

A three to four-page protocol was drafted for approval by the National Security Committee (NSC) of cabinet, which comprised Morrison, then-deputy PM Michael McCormack, Hunt, Peter Dutton (Home Affairs), Mathias Cormann (Finance), Marise Payne (Foreign Affairs) and Linda Reynolds (Defence).

And on March 14, the Governor-General signed an administrative instrument that appointed Scott John Morrison to administer the Department of Health.

Four days later — March 18, 2020 — a "human biosecurity emergency" was declared under the Biosecurity Act, giving health minister Greg Hunt sweeping, plenary powers.

Only members of the NSC — and the Governor-General — knew that Morrison also had that authority, which amounted to effective power of martial law.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-23/behind-the-scenes-of-scott-morrisons-power-grab/101358232

 

 

SCOTT MORRISON SHOULD RESIGN, OR BE BOOTED OUT IF HE DOES NOT WANT TO GO WILLINGLY.....

 

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his trumpian hour…..

 

by Mark Sawyer

 

Fresh from the mortifying news that he was sharing the second highest post in government with his leader, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg is being spoken of as a Liberal saviour. Apparently Peter Dutton has not inspired the nation in his role as opposition leader.

As outrage swirls around Scott Morrison for running a secret parallel ministry, there is are some wistful musings about the prospect of Josh getting back into parliament, even by replacing ScoMo. The former PM has become an unwelcome presence on his own side, and few would be sorry to see his back. Perhaps only Labor really wants him to hang around.

Enter the Liberal elder statesman. John Howard has lunches with Josh Frydenberg. They talk politics, Honest John helpfully informed Radio National’s Patricia Karvelas on Wednesday. She then asked him about the prospects of Josh taking Scott Morrison’s seat of Cook.

Moving to Sydney? That’s fighting words for many a southerner, and we suspect it’s a long way from the former treasurer’s thoughts, especially now he has landed a job with Goldman Sachs. (A well-paying job, of course. Journalists don’t need to say that. Nor do journalists need to tell us police ”have established a crime scene” at the site of a triple murder).

The former PM parried the question with the expertise of a man who has had some role or other in every Liberal election campaign for 73 years (handing out leaflets in 1949, as a 10-year-old). The implication: not very likely.

But moving out of Melbourne may not have fulfilled the dream ambition of Josh’s electoral conqueror.

On Monday the ABC’s Four Corners took us inside the first days of some of the new independents in federal parliament.

Monique Ryan, the Teal independent who unseated Frydenberg in Kooyong, expressed surprise that parliament doesn’t just sit for 80 days a year; that MPs will be there half the year:

So when we had that parliamentary sort of briefing last week, for some reason I had in my mind that you were in Canberra for 80 nights a year! (whispers) No. No! And then they said something about being here for as much as half the year and I was like ‘uh’, because I thought it was someone had told me it was 80, but that’s sitting, nights?

Zali Steggall, independent member for Warringah, set her straight: ”The standard calendar is about 20 to 22 weeks, sitting weeks.”

And while Melbourne winters can be brisk, Canberra winters are brutal.

 

READ MORE:

https://michaelwest.com.au/people-of-cook-you-can-make-josh-frydenberg-the-comeback-kid/

 

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PLEASE, MARK, DO NOT SUGGEST A SOLUTION THAT COULD BRING THE CONSERVATIVE BRIGANDS BACK IN POWER... LET DUTTON STEW IN HIS OWN JUICE.... 

 

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illegal secret…...

t Morrison owes Australians an apology

Mr Albanese said his predecessor owes the Australian public an apology for secretly assuming the additional ministerial roles.

"Scott Morrison owes the Australian people an apology for undermining our Parliamentary democracy system of government that we have, something that can't be taken for granted," Mr Albanese said.

A further inquiry will take place and Mr Albanese said further reform is needed to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.

Proper advice will be sought and further action will be made based upon that advice.

"I want to run a government that gets proper advice and makes decisions based upon it and in contrast to what we have seen of the shambles and chaos of the government that we have succeeded," he lamented.

Mr Albanese said the ordeal is something that should not be dismissed.

Last week, Mr Morrison insisted him being secretly sworn into the additional roleswas necessary.

"Only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders and on no one else, and as a result, I took the decisions that I thought I needed to take," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"I took the calls that I thought were necessary."

Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison's press conference last week "raised more questions than provided answers".

Ash Cant and  Australian Associated PressTue, 23 August 2022, 12:39 pm 

Former prime minister Scott Morrison's decision to appoint himself resources minister was "inconsistent" with constitutional conventions, according to legal advice provided to the government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday released advice from the solicitor-general on the legal implications of Mr Morrison's decision to secretly swear himself into five ministries.

While the advice said Mr Morrison was validly appointed to the role of resources minister in April 2021, the legal advice said the secrecy surrounding the appointment was unusual.

"In summary, the solicitor-general has concluded that Mr Morrison was validly appointed by the Governor-General to administer the various departments to which he was appointed," the prime minister said.

Mr Albanese said making the solicitor-general's opinion public is a "one-off".

"Today, given the highly extraordinary and unprecedented nature of this issue, I am releasing opinion as a one-off. It should not be considered to be a precedent," he said.Scott Morrison owes Australians an apology

Mr Albanese said his predecessor owes the Australian public an apology for secretly assuming the additional ministerial roles.

"Scott Morrison owes the Australian people an apology for undermining our Parliamentary democracy system of government that we have, something that can't be taken for granted," Mr Albanese said.

A further inquiry will take place and Mr Albanese said further reform is needed to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.

Proper advice will be sought and further action will be made based upon that advice.

"I want to run a government that gets proper advice and makes decisions based upon it and in contrast to what we have seen of the shambles and chaos of the government that we have succeeded," he lamented.

Mr Albanese said the ordeal is something that should not be dismissed.

Last week, Mr Morrison insisted him being secretly sworn into the additional roleswas necessary.

"Only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders and on no one else, and as a result, I took the decisions that I thought I needed to take," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"I took the calls that I thought were necessary."

Mr Albanese said Mr Morrison's press conference last week "raised more questions than provided answers".

 

Former PM should face "severe consequences" 

Mr Morrison took on health, finance, treasury and home affairs – as well as the industry, science, energy and resources portfolio – between March 2020 and May 2021.

His colleagues and the Australian public were unaware the former prime minister assumed these positions.

Mr Morrison claims he only used his powers to interfere with the portfolios once.

On that occasion, he intervened as co-resources minister and blocked the PEP-11 gas exploration licence off the NSW coast after then-resources minister Keith Pitt approved the project.

  READ MORE:https://au.yahoo.com/news/albanese-legal-advice-scott-morrisons-secret-portfolios-023903802.html READ FROM TOP. FREE JULIAN. ASSANGE NOW..............

dorky, goofy and sneaky…..

 

BY DAVID SOLOMON

 

Scott Morrison and/or his officials prepared the way for the Prime Minister or a Minister to secretly administer a government department in August 2018, just four days after Morrison took power after disposing of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Many months before the 2019 federal election and a year before the beginning of the Covid crisis, the list of Morrison government ministers contained a foot-noted warning that ministers ‘may also be sworn to administer other portfolios in which they are not listed’.

The Solicitor-General, Stephen Donaghue QC, noted this addition to the ministerial list in his report to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying the ‘impetus for the inclusion of those words is unclear, although it seems possible that they were included so as to ensure that the tabling of the Ministry list did not mislead Parliament’.

He continued, ‘The words contemplate an apparent practice whereby Ministers may be appointed to administer one or more departments of state without those appointments being published (at least in the Ministry list). The point is starkly illustrated be the fact that Mr Morrison’s name did not appear in the Ministry list published in October 2021 with respect to any of the five departments that he was appointed to administer between March 2020 and May 2021’.

Another explanation (not provided by the Solicitor-General) is that the change was made very deliberately in contemplation of the Prime Minister being able to appoint himself or another minister if he chose, to administer departments in secret.

And this was almost one of the first acts of his government, before there was any possible, justifiable need for secrecy.

The Solicitor-General provided the most innocent feasible explanation of this provision for future secret appointments (to avoid misleading Parliament). But it does not explain why a government would want to keep any such appointments secret, nor should be able to.

And warning Parliament that it might be misled into thinking that the ministerial list was accurate is no excuse for in fact deliberately misleading it.  It cannot happen by accident that a minister is ‘sworn to administer other portfolios in which they are not listed’. If that happens, and Parliament is not informed about it, Parliament is being misled deliberately, no matter what the footnote says.

One consequence of misleading the Parliament in this way is that the Minister who has been secretly appointed cannot be asked questions about their actions as the responsible minister. They cannot be held accountable in this most fundamental way. They also cannot be held accountable by the courts, as is provided for in the Constitution. In fact Morrison did put his name to the one decision as a ‘shadow’minister he has owned up to, that affecting gas exploration off the NSW coast, and he will have to demonstrate that his decision was taken according to the legislative requirements – a task made more difficult by the fact that he apparently intervened and used his secret powers in order to achieve a political result, namely to protect vulnerable Liberal-held seats in the election.

The Solicitor-General’s opinion notes that the exculpatory footnote, dated 28 August 2018, provided to the Senate and tabled on 10 September 2018 does not appear in a few subsequent ministerial lists but it is fully restored by 25 January 2019.

The inquiry that is being established by Prime Minister Albanese will need to discover what motivated the creation of the footnote and its subsequent publishing history.

But the basic question that must be answered is what prompted Prime Minister Morrison (or his officials) to prepare the way for his government to appoint ministers to positions that would not be openly disclosed to voters and to parliament. None of the excuses that Morrison provided last week are relevant to the pre-pandemic situation in which the ground was prepared for these appointments.

It will also need to reveal what advice Morrison provided to the Governor-General when he asked him (in fact, required him) to appoint the PrimeMinister to the various portfolios, beginning with health and finance.

Nor should the inquiry ignore the role of the Governor-General. While he had no choice but to act on the Prime Minister’s request, he should have sought explanations including legal opinions.

As the Solicitor-General explained, the appointments that were made were quite legal and constitutional. But the secrecy invoked by Prime Minister Morrison meant that the principles of responsible government were ‘fundamentally undermined’.  So too was the relationship between the ministry and the public service, because the relevant public service heads were not told their departments were being administered by an additional minister.

The proposed inquiry will need to question the principal actors to determine why this attack on crucial elements of our system of government were ‘fundamentally undermined’. That could be difficult and embarrassing for them.

 

READ MORE:

https://johnmenadue.com/moves-began-in-2018-for-morrisons-secret-government/

 

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SCOMO HAS TO RESIGN NOW. HE'S A BULLSHIT CON ARTIST. NOW IS THE TIME TO TELL US WHY HE WAS SACKED FROM TOURISM AUSTRALIA.

 

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