Parliament passes bill requiring transparency around ministerial appointments following Scott Morrison saga

Legislation requiring transparency around ministerial appointments has passed the lower house in Federal Parliament to prevent a repeat of a politician being sworn into multiple portfolios. Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison had himself secretly appointed to five portfolios — health, finance, resources, treasury and home affairs — while in the country’s top job during the pandemic. This prompted Labor to introduce new laws to require the appointment of a minister to be made public. A report into Mr Morrison’s actions by former High Court judge Virginia Bell last year found he undermined “public confidence in Government” and it was “corrosive of trust”. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described those actions as “so cavalier, so calculating and so cynical”. “The evidence points to a simple truth, and that is that the Member for Cook either just doesn’t get it or does not care,” Mr Albanese told Parliament on Monday. “His behaviour has been a disgrace to the party that shares the ventures with him. To accumulate portfolios so methodically, and with such compulsive secrecy, is an insult to every member who put their hand up to faithfully serve their communities.” Mr Albanese said Parliament “should be a place of open and respectful debate”. “(It should be) a strong and central institution that is defined by accountability and integrity, by achievement, by outcomes, by a powerful sense of all of us who enter this place do so proudly and firmly in the service of the Australian people,” he said. “To be a parliamentarian is to be part of one of the great institutions that, at its best, is one of the pillars on which Australia stands.” The inquiry made six recommendations to improve transparency, accountability and restore public trust in Australian democracy. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the primary purpose of the bill was to implement the first of those six recommendations. The legislation still needs to go before the Senate after passing through the lower house on Monday. “This bill demonstrates the Government’s readiness to act promptly to restore the Australian people’s confidence in our Federal system of Government and to rebuild integrity with public sector institutions, processes and officials,” Mr Dreyfus said. “The passage of this bill also demonstrates that the Government is delivering on its promise to restore trust and integrity to Federal politics — the centrepiece of which is a powerful, transparent and independent National anti-Corruption Commission.” Mr Morrison co-operated with the Bell inquiry via his lawyers last year but refused to be interviewed by the former High Court judge.