Anthony Albanese has hinted that Scott Morrison faces further humiliation over his secret ministry scandal and the possibility of being censured by parliament.
The prime minister raised the prospect on Sunday in the wake of a damning report by former High Court judge Virginia Bell that increases the likelihood her former ministers will be asked to vote on the motion.
And he has warned Mr Morrison that he should apologize to the public, and not just his Liberal Party colleagues, for appointing himself to various ministries and keeping the strange moves secret from voters and his own colleagues .
“You had a shadow government that functioned in an extraordinary and unprecedented way,” Albanese said.
“You had a prime minister standing up in parliament and … not saying his side … let alone parliament as a whole, who held what portfolio and who was responsible for decisions.
“There is a reason why, under the Westminster system, ministers are accountable to parliament. It was not possible to hold ministers to account because people did not know who ministers were.”
The federal cabinet will meet on Monday morning where it is expected to decide how parliament will proceed.
“It is likely that parliament will want to express an opinion on this and we will discuss it and let you know once that decision is made,” Albanese said.
Albanese says he has yet to see an apology from the former prime minister.
“Our democracy requires … he deserves an apology for that,” he said.
“I saw no contrition in Scott Morrison’s statement last Friday, and I find it extraordinary that anyone can read Bell’s inquiry and not be embarrassed if you are the subject of it.
“It’s also the case that Scott Morrison said he would co-operate fully with the investigation, but chose to speak … through his lawyers. And that, of course, is his right, but I’ll let people take his own conclusions there.”
Scott Morrison’s refusal to be interviewed by the former High Court judge
The Bell report describes in great detail High Court judge Virginia Bell’s attempts to discuss the scandal with the former prime minister.
Mrs. Bell wrote to Mr. Morrison on September 19 to “request his assistance” and requested his attendance to hear his “explanation of the facts and circumstances” of his ministerial appointments.
She offered to meet him any day for a period of three weeks, but he only responded through lawyers.
“On 19 September 2022, I wrote to Mr Morrison to ask for his help with the investigation,” he said.
“I proposed to meet with him to obtain his account of the facts and circumstances leading to his appointment to administer the five departments and sought his opinion on my Terms of Reference which raise questions of ministerial practice, the processes which apply to appointments under sections 64 and 65 of the Constitution, and any procedural or legislative reform.
“I drew Mr Morrison’s attention to the tight deadline for completing my report and offered to meet him at his electoral office in Sydney or his parliamentary office in Canberra on any date within three weeks from September 26, 2022.
“Mr Morrison acknowledged receipt of my letter and advised that he was making an application for legal aid and would write to me later in relation to the substance of my letter. After approval of this assistance, on October 4, 2022, Dr. Ashley Tsacalos, attorney, informed me that he was acting on behalf of Mr. Morrison and was in the process of preparing a response to my letter.
“By letter dated October 11, 2022, Dr. Tsacalos informed me that “the entirety of Mr. Morrison on the matters under investigation are contained in his two public statements” on August 17 and 23, 2022. Dr. Tsacalos also referred me to Mr. Morrison’s statements at a press conference held on August 17, 2022.
“The two public statements and a transcript of the press conference are Appendix C. Dr. Tsacalos informed me that Mr. Morrison had requested additional information from PM&C and had been given access to a subset of the requested documents. .
“Dr. Tsacalos said that Mr. Morrison proposed to inspect these documents to determine if he could provide any additional assistance to the investigation and that he, Dr. Tsacalos, would update me after the inspection.
“Mr. Morrison had access to the documents on October 12, 2022. I did not hear from Dr. Tsacalos until the afternoon of Friday, November 4, 2022, when I received a letter by email informing me that Mr. Morrison had inspected the documents.
“The only aspect in which Mr Morrison’s withdrawal was suggested to have been updated by this inspection was that he was able to say that neither he nor his office instructed PM&C not to publish the appointments nor was consulted him or his office as to whether the appointments should be published in the Commonwealth Gazette.
“Contrary to the advice contained in his letter of October 11, 2022, Dr. Tsacalos’ letter of November 4, 2022 concluded with the statement that: ‘We note that Mr. Morrison remains available to assist the inquiry by providing answers to any other matters you wish. to raise that are not addressed in their previous statements and in the information they sent you.”
In a statement, Mr Morrison insisted he had provided all relevant answers through his taxpayer-funded lawyer, although he did not mention he had been given the opportunity to speak directly to the inquiry.
“I was pleased to assist the inquiry with six separate and comprehensive responses to the issues raised with me and my legal representatives by Virginia Bell,” he said.
“This undertaking was made by correspondence as was the practice with other respondents to the inquiry and accepted by Virginia Bell.”