Key Points
- Anthony Albanese says there will be reforms after revelations Scott Morrison secretly swore himself into ministries
- He says even if what his predecessor did was legal, it must never happen again.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has flagged the need for reform and inquiries following revelations , to ensure it never happens again.
Mr Albanese will receive advice from the solicitor-general on Monday on whether Mr Morrison's actions gave rise to any legal or constitutional problems, then make any necessary changes.
The prime minister said if the solicitor-general's advice was Mr Morrison had acted within the law, he would still seek to .
"There's separate questions about the functioning of our democracy, about conventions and whether any conventions have been overturned and whether there's a need for any reforms required to ensure that something like this can never happen again," Mr Albanese told Sky News on Sunday.
"We'll examine all of those issues ... I am running a proper cabinet government that has proper processes.
"Very clearly, there's a need for proper scrutiny of what occurred here, this was an undermining of our parliamentary democracy."
Mr Morrison took on the health, finance, treasury, home affairs, industry, science, energy and resources portfolios between March 2020 and May 2021.
The former prime minister justified the decision to assume the health and finance portfolios as necessary safeguards during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He justified the appointments to the treasury, home affairs, and industry portfolios because they were “significant areas of importance” where ministers had broad individual decision-making powers that were not subject to the approval of cabinet.
“As prime minister, only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders and on no-one else,” Mr Morrison said.
Opposition leader , Australians wanted to put the scandal behind them.
Monday's advice was unlikely to provide "anything further than probably another opportunity for the prime minister to have a whack", he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
"And I think most people, frankly, want to move on and start dealing with issues that are more important."
But Mr Albanese said his predecessor had trashed the Westminster system.
When asked about legal ramifications following Mr Morrison's intervention in a gas drilling project off the NSW coast, Mr Albanese would not be drawn.
He said the government would honour contracts that were signed under modern manufacturing grants, and were worth more than $828 million.
Nine mastheads revealed Mr Morrison had the final say over the grants in the industry portfolio, in the year leading up to the federal election.
Mr Albanese said deals that were yet to be formally inked would be examined by the department on their merits, with decisions to be made "very shortly".
When asked if a royal commission into the nation's COVID-19 pandemic response would include state governments along with the federal, Mr Albanese said their role would be also be investigated.
"Clearly you need to look at the response of all governments," he said.
"Primarily, it will be about the federal government. That's what we have responsibility for, but the interaction between the levels of government of course, were critical to the response to the COVID pandemic.
"The response of various government agencies, how it operated, the different jurisdictions ... it exposed some of the issues with our federation can often be quite difficult with overlapping responsibilities."
Mr Albanese said a royal commission would be held as soon as practical.
