During the reign of Scott Morrison the Prime Minister seen fit to secretly usurp the powers of some of his ministers, in the areas of health, finance, treasury, home affairs and industry, science, energy and resources, a very broad range of responsibilities. All this was done whilst keeping the Australian people in the 'dark', and most of the government and the rest of parliament as well. This was an attack on the basic principle of open government enshrined in the Westminster system. For some it will be a case of who cares, so what, all legal, nothing to see here, but our democracy is fragile and can easily be eroded by those who seek power for powers sake.

In the words of Solicitor-General Dr Stephen Donaghue his (Scott Morrison) actions "fundamentally undermined" the principles of responsible government. There are many rightly upset by Morrison's actions, including some on his side of [politics, the Solictor-General's advice on Monday to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not be the end of this matter and we can expect fireworks when Parliament resumes

Paul1405,
With citizens like yourself a benevolent Dictator is by far the most moral alternative !

Does anyone feel "fundamentally undermined"?

Get over it, you big babies. Tell Albanese to start acting like a Prime Minister and not like the whingeing opposition leader that he was. The fool has enough to worry about, with his wild Socialist policies, without worrying about Morrison smirking away on the opposition back bench, totally immune to pathetic sticks and stones from a hick who has something to hide from us. Why else would he be clucking about a vanquished Morrison! He won the election. What more does he expect?

For a bloke whose party was wanted by less than a third of the electorate, Albanese really needs to get a grip on his own responsibilities, right now.

Morrison did nothing illegal; and who the hell expects politicians to be smart or moral? Morrison was an arse. He got his comeuppance. End of story.

Seen at a rock concert last night; dressed in a Tshirt, and standing up waving a plastic beer pot at the mob, Albanese has a lot more to worry about than harping on the faults of his predecessor.

The hitherto unknown example of a Dictator who puts himself up for re-election and accepts the legitimate results without demur.

Is that the Dictator you're whining about Paul? Every other Dictator in history ignores or fixes election. But this new version of Dictator that Paul has discovered endorses and accept election. Behold the new form....a democratic Dictator. Berk!

I get the faint feeling that Paul et al are already recognising that Albo and co. are out of their depth and are trying to deflect the discourse elsewhere.

We've now been told that our former Prime Minister
Scott Morrison was secretly appointed in 2020 and
2021 by Governor General David Hurley as a minister
in the health, finance, treasury, resources and
home-affairs portfolios.

The cabinet didn't know, parliament didn't know, and
the public didn't know about these appointments.
So far it appears that Mr Morrison only exercised his
secret ministerial power in the resources portfolio.

Another former PM, Malcolm Turnbull has described this
as being "sinister." And former PM Tony Abbott has
also voiced his opinion on this matter describing it as
"unusual, unorthodox, and strange."

It is clear that we should not have secret ministries.
Parliament must act to prevent this ever happening again.

Parliament must re-assert its supremacy over the
executive and ensure that the exercise of ministerial
power is accountable to parliament.

Parliament should amend legislation (Ministers of State Act)
to require the Governor General to publish in the Gazette
every appointment of a minister, every change to the portfolios
held by a minister, any change to which government departments
are responsible and any change to which the minister is
responsible. Transparency is paramount.

Changes also need to be made at the state level as well to
prevent this from happening there.

I'm not going to question Mr Morrison's motifs for doing what
he did. He will be dealt with by his own party and constituents.

I’m not going to question his motifs either.
Wonder who did his design work?