前任總理莫里森在2020年3月至2021 年5 月期間, 「秘密」地「委任」自己為五個部長職位, 在過去兩周內, 成為整個澳洲關注焦點, 令人失望。

總檢察長在周二向現屆政府提交的報告表示. 莫里森的委任是合法的。不過, 沒有公佈這些委任令到被委任者無法被議會監察, 並且無法判定哪一部長要為哪些決定負上責任, 因此不是一個負責任政府的處事方式。阿爾巴尼斯總理表示莫里森要為此負上責任, 不過他認為是否要辭去議員職務是莫里森個人的決定。

大多數人都無法理解莫里森的行為, 因為整個過程都並沒有被公佈, 而莫里森也只在一次政府決議中, 以總理身份行使部長職權。把這視為濫權、秘密、或是獨裁的行為, 明顯是與事實不符。按莫里森所解釋, 他認為是在新冠大流行非常時期要作出的行為, 令到政府能有效運作, 不過事後他也發現這是不需要的。是否接納莫里森的解釋, 或是認同他的作法, 每一個人都可以有自己的看法。

莫里森在運用這方法去解決他所見到的問題, 我倒覺得顯露了他人性軟弱的一面。在2020年3月的兩次委任, 確實是與大流行期間的管治有關連。不過在不同意資源部長決定時, 運用委任自己去干預部門工作, 卻無法可以從大流行的「特事特辦」來解釋。唯一解釋是莫里森運用管治權術, 不與相關部長溝通商討, 而是「大石壓死蟹」的一意孤行。這也不是濫權, 因為作為總理, 他是有理由要其他部長接納他的意見的, 甚至在部長堅持不同意見時, 建議總督取消部長的任命。

由「特事特辦」變成為管治手段, 正是令人擔心的事。不過現屆政府, 即當時的反對黨, 未有在大流行期間成立國家內閣時, 監督政府推出應對政策, 部份會變成由總理與州長會議訂定。對總理彷彿擁有了這些部長的權力, 沒有質詢。是否這樣的運作, 導致莫里森今次的「部長事件」, 值得繼續追究。反對黨本來就應該發現這些管治問題, 阿爾巴尼斯要進一步檢討莫里森的「部長事件」相信也要把其他部長及反對黨的責任, 仔細研究, 務求從這些事件中, 找出制度中的問題。

無論如何, 莫里森的「部長事件」必定給自由黨帶來負面影響, 是莫里森政績的一大污點。

周偉文 社長

Morrison’s ‘Ministerial Incident’

Australians are daunted and disappointed by the news that the Ex-PM Morrison had secretly appointed himself into five ministerial positions during the period March 2020 to May 2021.

On Tuesday the Solicitor-General stated in his report that the appointments were legal and valid. But without making them public could make it hard to hold whoever accountable for those ministerial duties and decisions thus not the way to work for a responsible government. PM Albanese said Morrison must be held responsible for this incident but it would still be his personal choice as to whether he should resign from the Parliament.

Many of us are puzzled by the incident as the appointments were kept in the dark and Morrison had only exercised his ministerial role once in making a governance decision. To see this as a power abuse, secrecy or dictatorship may not be the truth. According to Morrison’s explanation, this act was aimed to cope with the pandemic for ‘special need’ purposes although he admitted it was unnecessary with hindsight. We are open to take his words or we can accept his move.

I rather see a human weakness of Morrison when he chose to address the issue this way. The two appointments in March 2020 were indeed related to the pandemic. But while in disagreement with the Minister of Resource, he relied on this appointment for ministerial interference in his own political interest bypassing an open dialogue. This could not be an abuse of power because as a PM he could override his ministers or even stand them off with the agreement of the Governor General.

From ‘special need’ to ‘personal tactic’ can be worrying in governance. But the Labor government being the opposition party then obviously had failed its duty during the pandemic for not checking up those cabinet policies all made up by the PM and the state premiers. They did not raise a question on their inappropriate exercising of those ministerial duties. We need to further investigate is there something wrong with the system to allow such an incident. Opposition party should have a role in this, and while Albanese wants to investigate Morrison he should also review other ministers and his own party for identifying the underlying problems.

For sure Morrison’s disgraceful ‘ministerial incident’ has adversely impacted on the Liberal Party.

Mr. Raymond Chow, Publisher