A Sunrise host has accused Barnaby Joyce of ‘staying quiet’ when the former prime minister took on five ministerial jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Joyce told Natalie Barr he hadn’t been directly informed of Scott Morrison‘s additional positions when he became the Nationals leader in June last year.
‘People didn’t walk in and say “the prime minister’s sworn himself in as resources minister”,’ Mr Barnaby told the program on Monday morning.
‘We are hyperventilating about something that, to be quite frank, isn’t illegal. You might not like it, but it isn’t illegal.’
The former deputy prime minister tried to divert the conversation to issues like the rising price of groceries and fuel but was quickly interrupted.
‘Barnaby, there’s always something bigger,’ Barr said. ‘Kids are dying of cancer; there’s always a bigger issue.
‘But this is a big issue when the prime minister of Australia gave himself extra power and told barely anyone about it.
‘My question for you is, when you saw that the prime minister blocked that oil and gas project, did you question how he could have done it?’
Sunrise host Natalie Barr (left) has accused Barnaby Joyce (right) of ‘staying quiet’ when the former prime minister secretly took on five ministerial jobs in 2020 and 2021
Nationals MP Keith Pitt was resources minister in the former Liberal government, but Mr Morrison secretly gave himself that ministry along with four others back in 2021.
The former prime minister then overruled Mr Pitt to deny a permit renewal of the Pep-11 oil and gas exploration, which was looking at the possibility of drilling offshore between Newcastle and Sydney.
A number of Liberal MPs holding seats along NSW coastal areas were known to be opposed to the project.
Mr Joyce told Sunrise it was ‘quite obvious’ Mr Morrison had had the power to block the project and that he had announced the decision ‘right in front of your face’ in a subsequent press conference.
‘Was he paying you off with extra staff and an extra minister and then you were keeping quiet?’ Barr fired back.
‘No, that’s wrong,’ Mr Joyce replied.
Scott Morrison (pictured) last week defended his decision to swear himself in to five portfolios
‘I negotiated all the things I got before any of this. I had negotiated the extra minister, the position on ERC (Expenditure Review Committee), extra staff – this became an issue subsequent to that.’
Mr Joyce reiterated that while Mr Morrison ‘shouldn’t have done it’, the former PM hadn’t done anything illegal and had been ‘entitled’ to do what he did.
He brushed off reports Mr Morrison could be booted from his Cook electorate, stating: ‘I don’t believe you start kicking people out of parliament if they didn’t do anything illegal.’
Labor’s Tanya Plibersek told the program that if Mr Morrison had thought taking on the extra ministerial positions had been in the country’s best interests, he should have been honest with Australians at the time.
Mr Morrison, here seen with his wife Jenny, secretly took on five extra ministerial portfolios
‘At the end of all of this, you’ve got a prime minister that has kept a power grab secret and he’s not yet apologised to the people of Australia for going to the last election still keeping that secret,’ she said.
‘It’s the secrecy here that really troubles me. The fact that he took on these extra portfolios in a very clear power grab without ever taking the Australian people into his confidence and he should certainly apologise for that.’
It comes as Anthony Albanese seeks legal advice on whether Mr Morrison broke the law when he covertly gave himself the powers to act as health minister, finance minister, resources minister, home affairs minister and treasurer in 2020 and 2021.
Last week, he slammed his predecessor, telling reporters: ‘Scott Morrison was defensive, passive-aggressive, and of course he was self-serving.’
Experts say the moves were legal but highly unusual, while none of the ministers knew they were sharing their jobs except former health minister Greg Hunt.
Speaking to ABC’s Insiders on Sunday, Mr Joyce said the issue was being overblown and claimed ‘average’ Australians weren’t interested in the portfolio scandal.
‘I understand Insiders is a political program and is focused on this but they are not focused on this at the checkout at IGA,’ he said.
‘They’re probably more focussed on that Mr (Chris) Bowen has changed the laws on vehicle standards and now we are going to pay more for four-wheel drives in country areas – that affects them.’
Mr Joyce couldn’t say when exactly he learnt the Nationals MP was sharing his portfolio with Mr Morrison and said he believed in a ‘cabinet’ system of government rather than a ‘presidential’ one.
‘I believe Keith Pitt was a competent minister, incredibly confident and was all over the Pep-11 issue like a bad suit and understood all the ramifications of any decision,’ Mr Joyce said.
‘And I think it should have been left with him to make that decision and I think in our discussions that is the direction it had.’