FEDERAL member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, said he was very disappointed to learn last week that when serving as prime minister, Scott Morrison had secretly appointed himself to five additional portfolios without the knowledge of the public or his colleagues, except two of the incumbent ministers.

It was revealed just over a week ago that Mr Morrison effectively had simultaneous powers over the extra portfolios he selected that included Health, Finance, Treasury, Home Affairs, and Industry, Science and Resources.

Mr Tehan served as Education minister from August 2018 to December 2020, and then as Trade, Tourism and Investment minister under Mr Morrison, until losing government in May this year.

Speaking from his Hamilton electorate office on Tuesday, Mr Tehan said he was not aware of the extracurricular appointments by the former prime minister.

“I didn’t know about Hunt or the others,” he said.

“I’m very disappointed in the former PM for not making public the ministries which he was sworn into.

“I think convention is incredibly important in how our system of government works.

“I was aware of the Health minister’s concerns with the enormous amount of power that the Biosecurity Act 2015 (the Act) bestowed on him as the Health minister.

“I had discussed that with him, and my strong view is that the Act needs to be reviewed because I think that (Mr Hunt) was rightly concerned with the powers it gave him and I think the Parliament needs to relook at this.”

However, concerning Mr Hunt’s knowledge about Mr Morrison’s appointment, Mr Tehan said Mr Hunt was comfortable with it because of the enormous power under the Act.

“It was actually made public at the time, there is a transcript of the press conference from March 18, 2020,” he said.

“My understanding was it was supported by the Labor Party at the time.

While disappointed in Mr Morrison’s actions, Mr Tehan said there needs to be some understanding of the enormous weight he was under steering Australia through the pandemic.

“He said there would be mistakes made – this was clearly one of them,” he said.

“I’m very glad he has accepted his mistake and apologised.”

Mr Tehan is of the view that the Opposition of the former government is using this to try and discredit the previous government’s response to the pandemic and deflect from their significant achievements.

“In terms of lives saved, livelihoods and jobs saved, Australia’s performance during the pandemic was equal to any other country in the world,” he said.

“When you look at the achievements in the Morrison Government through AUKUS, the Free Trade Agreements with the UK and India, the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years and lowest long term unemployment rate in over decade, record investment in infrastructure, all of that, they’re using it to deflect from the actual achievements from the previous government.”

A spokesperson on behalf of Governor-General, David Hurley, said that there was no reason to believe the decision by former prime minister Scott Morrison to swear himself into multiple ministries wouldn’t be publicly announced.

“The Governor-General acted on the advice of the government of the day, consistent with the principle of responsible government,” they said.

The Solicitor-General, Dr Stephen Donaghue QC, provided legal opinion to the prime minister on Tuesday on the matter which stated that whilst the appointments were not illegal, they had set a concerning precedent.

In his statement, Dr Donaghue stated that he had not been briefed with any information concerning whether the lack of any notification (of the ministerial appointments) was the result of a direction from Mr Morrison.

However, he opined that it was inconsistent with the conventions and practices that form an essential part of the system of responsible government prescribed by Ch II of the Constitution.

“That is because it is impossible for Parliament and the public to hold ministers accountable for the proper administration,” he said.

Mr Tehan said it was important the Opposition and Federal Government worked together to ensure it wouldn’t happen again in the future.