Has Scott Morrison become Australia’s Richard Nixon?

In May 1940, Winston Churchill was not only appointed Prime Minister but Minister for Defence. In doing so, Churchill ensured that he, and not the three traditional cabinet secretaries traditionally responsible for the armed services, had ultimate responsibility for Britain’s war effort. This was an open, and very public, move which was welcomed and praised at a time Hitler was on Britain’s doorstep.

In March 2020, the then Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, found himself leading his own national battle – this time against the Covid-19 pandemic. And like Churchill, Morrison took on additional ministerial portfolios – Health, Treasury, Finance, Home Affairs and Resources, to give him greater personal control over his government’s key ministries and ministerial powers. Unlike Churchill, however, Morrison shared this job with his cabinet ministers. And, he did so without telling them or the Australian public that he was moonlighting and had taken on these positions.

The revelations that Morrison acted so unusually and secretly emerged this week in a book by two well-sourced political journalists, about how Australia responded to the pandemic.