E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO TERRITORY-WIDE – DRIVE WITH ALEX BARWICK

SUBJECTS: Scott Morrison’s secret portfolios; NT Black Spots funding.

ALEX BARWICK, HOST: Additional portfolios taken on in secret. Ministers left in the dark. A former prime minister explaining it as extraordinary measures in COVID times, although also apologising. This story that's unfolded over the last day or two is almost farcical. If it wasn't so very serious, first it was one role, then it was two. And then this morning the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to the Health, Finance, Treasury, Home Affairs and Industry, Science and Resources portfolios at various points between March 2020 and May 2021.Have a listen to what the Prime Minister said this morning:

AUDIO – PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: “Today I've been informed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet that between March 2020 and May 2021, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison was appointed to five additional portfolios in addition to his appointment as head of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He was appointed to administer the Department of Health on 14 March 2020. The Department of Finance on 30 March 2020. The Department of Home Affairs on 6 May 2021. The Department of the Treasury on 6 May 2021. And the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources on 15 April 2021. Each of these appointments made under Section 64 of the Constitution.

“It is completely extraordinary that these appointments were kept secret by the Morrison Government. Turns out he was the world's first stealth bulldozer, operating in secret. This is a sad indictment of not just Mr. Morrison, but all those Cabinet colleagues of his who sat back and allowed this to happen. It's undermined our democracy. It's an attack on the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy as we know it, and not just Mr. Morrison, but others who are involved in this need to be held to account in the former Morrison Government.”

BARWICK: Okay, so that's Anthony Albanese earlier this morning. In response to those revelations, one of Scott Morrison's former ministers, former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews confirmed that she didn't know that Mr. Morrison had assumed control over her portfolio, and she went on to call for his resignation from Parliament. She released a statement this morning that essentially read as follows: “This undermines the integrity of government. If this is the way he is prepared to conduct himself without an adequate explanation, even though it's now going to be well past the time when such an explanation should have been made, then it's time for him to leave the Parliament and look elsewhere for employment.”

Now, following that, the former Prime Minister did apologize. He also posted a lengthy explanation on social media. And he also spoke to a Sydney radio station at 2GB to explain why he took on those additional roles:

AUDIO – FORMER PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON: “We had to take some extraordinary measures to put safeguards in place. fortunately, then, none of these – in the case of the finance and health – they were never required to be used. And they were there as a safeguard. There were there as a redundancy, because both of the powers, the powers in those portfolios, they weren't overseen by Cabinet. So the minister himself in both cases had great powers that few, if any, ministers in our federation's history were having.”

BARWICK: Okay. Scott Morrison, as I said, also posted that very long explanation on social media, saying that the overriding objective was about saving lives. And really all of these measures were only put in place as a “break glass in case of emergency” safeguard. Luke Gosling is the Labor Member for Solomon in the Federal Parliament where all of this unfolded. Good afternoon, Luke Gosling. You were there at the time. Did you ever hear whispers that this was happening?

LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: G’day Alex. And no, we never heard about that. And it seems like half of Scott Morrison's team didn't hear about it either. There were some that did. And, you know, they've got to answer for why they allowed these extraordinary actions to take place. But, you know, I think it's indicative, as the Prime Minister has said, it's a bit of a culture of secrecy and I daresay probably a bit of the culture of standing over certain ministers that Scott Morrison engaged in.

BARWICK: What was your reaction when you heard this morning that the former PM had actually taken on five additional portfolios in secret?

GOSLING: It didn't surprise me in one way because the sense that you had, being in the Parliament, was that there was a lot of control and a lack of transparency happening in their government, particularly over the years that we're talking about. And you know, I acknowledge that Scott Morrison's apologised to his colleagues, but he hasn't apologised to the Australian people, and I think he probably should do that probably for a number of things, but it shouldn't have had to wait for a book to come out to tell us what was happening in our elected government. And we know that the period of COVID in some ways was pretty extraordinary. But we've got very well-tested procedures in our Parliament and in the executive to deal with situations up to and including war. So there's no reason that these measures should’ve been taken. And in fact, some of the key public servants in areas like Home Affairs didn't even know that they had been taken. And that's a that's a serious issue.

BARWICK: I mean, Luke Gosling, I think as a nation, we have accepted a lot of additional measures. We've also accepted increases in power for those in authority throughout this pandemic. So in some ways is what Scott Morrison did really any different, given the extreme times we've been through or even still going through?

GOSLING: I just don't think there's any justification for it. And the fact that we didn't hear about it says that perhaps there wasn't any proper justification for it because if there was, perhaps it would have been explained. But it's typical with the former Prime Minister. If there was a need for him to go away to Hawaii for a holiday while the nation was burning to the ground, well, then he should have explained that he needed to go away and have a break and say that the Deputy Prime Minister was going to be acting in the Prime Minister role. But he didn't do that. He snuck over to Hawaii, got caught out, and had to then lie about it and try and cover his tracks. All I'm suggesting is that we have been extraordinary times. Our country has been devastated by natural disasters. We've been dealing with the pandemic for a couple of years now. And the fact that these special measures were taken with the Prime Minister without it being explained why it was necessary, it just seems typical to me of the way they conducted themselves and why the Australian people ultimately said, “nup, we're done with you and we'll give Anthony Albanese and Federal Labor the chance to get the country back on track”.

BARWICK: It sounds as though the lack of transparency, the secrecy, and the fact that the decision was never explained, that's the real problem. Had it been clearly articulated at the time, given what you know now, everything that he has said today, or has posted today on social media, would it have been a reasonable decision?

GOSLING: Oh, I’ve got to be honest with you, Alex. I haven't pored over every media article that's come out today on the issue. I think we need to move on. I mean, he needs to apologize to the Australian people where he's acted inappropriately while he was in that position. I was surprised to see him come back to the Parliament, and probably think he's made his contribution and you he probably should follow Karen Andrews’s advice and resign and go and start another career somewhere. But I think in some ways it is up to Peter Dutton now. He's the Leader of the Opposition. Scott Morrison now is a backbencher, so he should really grip the situation up and just show people that the cultures that were in the last Coalition federal government, they're going to come to an end, and they're going to embrace things like a National Integrity Commission or a federal ICAC because they haven't got anything to hide. But unfortunately, we keep seeing instances where they have plenty to hide and they weren't prepared to be straight with the Australian people.

BARWICK: Okay, I'm just trying to get clarity. You sort of said in one breath, “we just need to move on”. But in the other you support Karen Andrews’s call for him to leave Parliament. Are you also echoing that call? She says he just needs to leave now. This is not acceptable.

GOSLING: I think it's better for the country. I mean, Scott Morrison wasn't transparent, didn't act honourably in order to get preselected for that seat in the first place. He's by some amazing situation and his political skills, he rose to be the prime minister of the country. So that is a big effort. And it's a good effort for someone that probably shouldn't have been there. He's had that experience now. He's shown time after time whilst he was the Prime Minister that he probably shouldn't have been in that position. Now you really have to ask yourself, if you're a member of the electorate that he represents, what is he got left to contribute, particularly when we find out he has taken the people of Australia for mugs more than a couple of times. It's probably time for him to finish up, I reckon, but that's just my personal opinion. Others, your listeners, will have their own opinions.

BARWICK: I mean, your leader said maybe that there really needs to be consequences. We know that Anthony Albanese has called for advice, legal advice from the Solicitor-General, which he's going to get on Monday. What we understand so far is that essentially Scott Morrison worked all this out, allegedly with the former A-G Christian Porter and also the Governor-General David Hurley. Is it appropriate that the Governor-General swore Scott Morrison in secret into multiple other portfolios?

GOSLING: I’ll let other commentators and constitutional experts comment on those things. I wouldn't reflect on the Governor-General. But what I would say—

BARWICK: But if you don't think it's okay for the former Prime Minister to have done this, and clearly the Governor-General was complicit, was that appropriate in terms of his behaviour?

GOSLING: Oh Alex, I don't know what advice the Governor-General was given. All I'm suggesting is that Scott Morrison, as the Prime Minister, wasn't transparent about his actions and then lied about the number of areas where he had assumed this extraordinary control and power. And he did it with Christian Porter, who is obviously no longer in the Parliament and obviously was shown to be less than transparent when it comes to, let's say, $1,000,000 of funding that come from a secret source to pay his legal bills when he was caught up in really extraordinary times. Now, all I'm suggesting to you is that the former Coalition Government had a real problem with integrity. It had a real problem with its culture. And it wasn't transparent. And it fought continually to stop transparency, whether it be into veteran suicides, whether it be into the rorts that went on in their government. They weren't a good government. They weren’t led by a good Prime Minister, and he should resign.

BARWICK: All right. We are talking about history this afternoon, but let's talk about what's going to happen next. Luke Gosling, the Labor Member for Solomon is with you this afternoon on ABC Radio Darwin in the Northern Territory. As you said, Peter Dutton is going to work out what to do. He has come out today saying – that’s of course the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, has said that people care more about the cost of living than what Scott Morrison was up to. Is this a strategy from Labor to divert attention away from the issues that Australians are really struggling with in their own lives?

GOSLING: No, not at all. I mean, I’m on radio speaking to about this issue of Morrison now, Alex, because you invited me to. But every day I'm talking to Territorians about cost of living and looking into what we can do to put downward pressure on fuel prices by getting some transparency around the gouging that's going on from the retailers. So that's what I've been spending my day doing, seeing the new committee that I'm chairing, which is looking at regional development, infrastructure and transport, seeing what we can do to force these these retailers to be more transparent about the huge markups they're putting on fuel. That's one, just one example. And in other areas of the economy, of course, we're working. We've got a jobs and skills summit coming up in early September. We want to work out how we can help Territorians and all Australians get well-paid jobs of the future. And we do that by transforming the economy and by building up vocational training. So we're getting about that work.

BARWICK: And Luke Gosling, in terms of work that you're all so involved in at the moment, I know you were very much hoping for a ministerial role in the new Albanese Government. That hasn't happened. But you've also been announced as the chair of the Northern Territory Black Spot Consultative Panel. Perhaps not exactly what you were hoping for, but also looking at a critical issue for the Territory. What will be your focus in that role?

GOSLING: Alex, if we can save lives through black spots funding, then what's more important than saving Territory lives? And I've made the point to some of my colleagues that because the Territory's quite a relatively small place to elsewhere, every death on our roads could be a family friend, whoever it is, it could be a mate. But whoever it is, we don't want Territorians dying needlessly because of crap roads or really dangerous intersections. So I want to make a bit of a call-out actually to your listeners, particularly if they're in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, or Nhulunbuy that didn't receive any funding in the last black spot program. I'm now the chair of a consultative panel that will talk with Territorians, the Road Transport Association, Police, Fire and Emergency Services, the Automobile Association, NT Government and local councils to identify black spots, get the funding from the Commonwealth to fix those blackspots to save Territory lives.

BARWICK: All right, we’re going to leave it there—

GOSLING: Really happy with that role, Alex. Thanks for chatting.

BARWICK: Yeah, good to have you on the program. Luke Gosling there, the Labor Member for Solomon.

ENDS