The Solicitor General’s inquiry into the validity of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s secret ministerial appointments has delivered a damning assessment of the state of Australia’s constitutional arrangements in relation to the appointment of ministerial responsibility. 

Despite the appointment of the former Prime Minister complying with the minimum requirements of the Constitution, the Solicitor General declared that Mr Morrison’s actions ‘fundamentally undermined’ the ‘principles of responsible government’. 

“Neither the people nor the Parliament can hold a Minister accountable for the exercise (or, just as importantly, for the non-exercise) of particular statutory powers if they are not aware that the Minister has those powers. Nor can they hold the correct Ministers accountable for any other actions, or inactions, of departments,” the Solicitor-General said. 

“An unpublicised appointment to administer a department therefore fundamentally undermines not just the proper functioning of responsible government, but also the relationship between the Ministry and the public service.” 

The Solicitor General also highlighted that it was within the Governor-General’s existing powers to make such ministerial appointments public, yet he declined to do so. 

National Director of the Australian Republic Movement Sandy Biar said it demonstrated that having the Queen as Head of State and the Governor-General as her representative provided no guarantees that the fundamentals of our constitutional system of government would be upheld. 

“Instead of safeguarding responsible government in Australia, the Queen’s representative to Australia, the Governor-General, has essentially washed his hands of any responsibility, saying it was up to the Prime Minister to hold himself accountable,” Mr Biar said. 

Mr Biar further stated that the Governor-General is within his power to instigate the publication of Scott Morrison’s ministerial appointments and that his refusal to do so meant that responsible government has been ‘fundamentally undermined’ under the Governor-General’s watch.  

“The idea that the Queen and her representative can be relied upon to uphold our system of government has been debunked once and for all,” he said.

“It’s time we had an Australian Head of State, chosen by Australians and accountable to them to safeguard and uphold Australia’s Constitution.”

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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