Scott Morrison demands media leave Jenny and the girls alone as he breaks silence on secret ministry scandal

A defiant Scott Morrison has doubled down on his defence of a secret power grab involving five ministerial portfolios.

In an extraordinary press conference, the former prime minister was grilled on why he appointed himself to the portfolios and why he kept it secret.

“You mightn’t understand it because you haven’t been a prime minister in the middle of the worst crisis since the Second World War,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Speaking directly to the press, Mr Morrison issued a plea for the media to pack up their campsites outside his home, calling for people to respect his family’s privacy.

“I would very much like that the cameras that sit outside my house each day and film my wife and my daughters going to school or going for a coffee … (my family) have nothing to do with this,” he said.

“I would ask that you not invade the privacy of my family.”

Mr Morrison appointed himself to administer the departments of health, finance, resources, home affairs and treasury over a two-year period.

Scott Morrison’s cabinet of secretsThen health minister Greg Hunt was the only minister to be informed of his actions in 2020.

Pressed to explain why he added treasury and home affairs to his pile of responsibilities in 2021, Mr Morrison cited the budget, the AUKUS agreement and the vaccine rollout.

“These matters were added to the emergency powers on an administrative basis. They were never used, and, in hindsight, I think they proved to be unnecessary. I openly say that, but I can’t offer you any further explanation,” he said.

On the decision to use the powers to knock back the controversial PEP-11 gas drilling permit, Mr Morrison said people who lived in the area would be “forever grateful” for his actions.

The appointments were kept secret because the public and his colleagues would have “misinterpreted” the matter, he said, while denying suggestions he deceived Australians.

Mr Morrison will not resign from parliament as the member for Cook, opting to stay in his $211,250-a-year backbencher role.

He said the people had already held him accountable by booting him as prime minister.

“We‘ve had an election and that’s been run and done and here I am before you today no longer as the prime minister,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton distanced himself from his predecessor, claiming he would never secretly appoint himself to additional portfolios should he be elected prime minister.

“Scott’s apologised, rightly,” Mr Dutton told Tasmania Talks.

“I think it’s appropriate that he has apologised because what he did, clearly, was the wrong thing.

“It’s not something that I would do if I’m elected to be prime minister at the next election. And we’ll work with the government to make sure the checks and balances are put in place to make sure that it can’t happen again.”