Governor-General Said He Had “No Reason To Believe” ScoMo’s Job Hoarding Wouldn’t Be Made Public
"It is not the responsibility of the Governor-General to advise the broader ministry or parliament (or public) of administrative changes of this nature."
Governor-General David Hurley has distanced himself from Scott Morrison’s infamous portfolio hoarding, insisting that he acted entirely within the Constitution and had no reason to believe the appointments wouldn’t be made public by the Morrison government.
Earlier this week it was revealed that Morrison secretly swore himself into five additional portfolios, which were signed off by the Governor-General, prompting criticism from just about every direction. But in a statement released on behalf of Hurley, a spokesperson has rejected suggestions that the secrecy was any of his business.
“In relation to questions around secrecy: any questions around secrecy after the Governor-General had acted on the advice of the government of the day are a matter for the previous government,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“It is not the responsibility of the Governor-General to advise the broader ministry or parliament (or public) of administrative changes of this nature. The Governor-General had no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated.”
While Hurley stresses he had “no reason to believe” the appointments wouldn’t be communicated, it is worth noting that three of the additional portfolios were only taken over more than a year after the first two, which were never publicly announced — so it is hard to believe the expectation would’ve been for the latter three to be any different.
His statement also noted that the Governor-General acts on the advice of the government of the day, again shifting the blame back on Morrison.
“In terms of questions around the process by which advice is provided to the Governor-General: recommendations relating to appointments of ministers of state, or to appoint a minister to have administrative responsibilities over another department, are not, by convention, considered by federal executive council,” the spokesperson said. “They are recommendations made, in writing, by the prime minister to the Governor-General. The Governor-General signs an instrument to act on the advice of the government of the day. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is responsible for that process.”
The statement comes after Morrison refused questions on whether or not the Governor-General had advised him to make the information public. “You can draw no conclusion from that. You can assert nothing about that. You can impugn nothing about that,” he told a reporter in a heated exchange during his unhinged press conference. “I think the Governor-General acted with absolute propriety and did everything that was expected of him in these arrangements and he would have taken the necessary advice from his own office.
“There was no swearing-in ceremonies and these things were done administratively.”
In a separate statement given to the ABC, the Governor-General said he was content to allow the investigation into the situation to continue.
“I’m content at the moment to allow the processes the Prime Minister has put in place to run through until next week,” he told the ABC. “In the meantime, I’ll continue to do my job as I have done it in the past.”
Anthony Albanese has confirmed he has “no intention of undertaking any criticism of the Governor-General” in relation to the situation.
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