Australia news LIVE: Anthony Albanese accuses former PM Scott Morrison of running ‘shadow government’; new documents in NSW trade saga

Key posts

  • NSW’s top representative in the UK needed candidate brief ‘massaged’: documents
  • Search for documents authorising Morrison’s secret ministerial powers
  • This morning’s key headlines at a glance
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NSW’s top representative in the UK needed candidate brief ‘massaged’: documents

NSW’s Agent-General in London, Stephen Cartwright, was a late entrant to the recruitment process for the state’s most lucrative trade role and his candidate brief had to be “massaged” for him to be appointed.

A preferred candidate had already been identified for the role, but Cartwright was belatedly “recommended into the process” and was ultimately handed the job, extraordinary new documents provided to the NSW upper house reveal.

The agent-general recruitment process is shaping as another controversial appointment in the state government’s damaging trade saga, which began with former deputy premier John Barilaro securing the New York trade commissioner role. He has since withdrawn from the job.

More on this issue here.

Search for documents authorising Morrison’s secret ministerial powers

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ordered a search for documents authorising his predecessor Scott Morrison to take joint control over at least three key ministerial portfolios at the height of the pandemic in a secret arrangement that allowed the former leader to overrule the decisions of cabinet colleagues.

The revelations over the weekend about the secret portfolios have blindsided former Coalition ministers, prompted the current government to seek advice about the arrangement’s constitutional legality and triggered legal action from a mining company accusing Morrison of bias for shutting down its offshore exploration permit.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison took on the portfolios of then-health minister Greg Hunt, right, then-finance minister Mathias Cormann, bottom left, and then resources minister Keith Pitt.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Yesterday, Albanese said Morrison had been running a “shadow government” that was “unbecoming, cynical and just weird … contrary to the Westminster system”.

He has also asked the new secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Glyn Davis, to seek legal advice from the Solicitor-General.

Read the full story here.

This morning’s key headlines at a glance

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Tuesday, August 16. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started.

  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ordered a search for documents relating to his predecessor’s appointment to key ministerial portfolios during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. As James Massola and Katina Curtis write, the secret ministerial powers blindsided former Coalition ministers and have attracted condemnation from all sides of politics.
  • In NSW, Alexandra Smith reports that new documents provided to the state’s upper house reveal that the person selected for a London trade job needed to have his candidate brief “massaged”.
  • In Victoria, legislation to establish a treaty with Indigenous Australians could pass the Legislative Council as soon as this week.
  • Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull last night confirmed his support for a Voice to parliament. You might recall that Turnbull rejected the recommendations of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017 on the basis that one of its recommendations would “inevitably be seen as a third chamber of parliament”.
  • And in international news, Britain has become the first country to authorise an updated coronavirus vaccine that directly targets the Omicron variant. Rob Harris has more detail here.
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