Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ordered an investigation Monday after reports emerged that his predecessor Scott Morrison had secretly usurped some ministerial portfolios during the coronavirus pandemic.
Albanian spoke of “unacceptable” and “bizarre” behavior.
“This is the kind of behavior we would laugh at if it happened in a non-democratic country,” Albanian said, adding that “Scott Morrison ran a ghost government.”
Morrison is said to have given himself, among other things, the Health, Resources, and Finance portfolios without informing the ministers.
It’s not entirely clear how many ministerial posts Morrison would have attracted to himself in this way. Still, local media say he used the Commodities portfolio to hold back a major gas project in the Sydney area.