A thread on why former Aus PM #ScottMorrison's secret swearing in to multiple ministries.
1 Ministerial responsibility: minister is accountable for ministry & potentially resigns for its mistakes. With 2 ministers, who is responsible? If one is secret, how can he be responsible?
1 Ministerial responsibility: minister is accountable for ministry & potentially resigns for its mistakes. With 2 ministers, who is responsible? If one is secret, how can he be responsible?
2 Checks & balances: if one man holds many portfolios, how can, eg, the finance minister hold the PM to account if necessary - when they are the same person? Too much power in too few hands.
3 Responsible gov. Responsible government makes ministers accountable to Parliament, and ultimately to the people (because Parliament is a democratic branch). If the people don’t know you’re a minister, and neither does parliament, none of that works.
4 Gough Whitlam and another minister created a duumvirate in 1972, holding many ministries between them. But that was just a few weeks, not secret, and necessary given that more minsters could not immediately be sworn in.
5 Conventions that govern Parliament and the executive are not formal law, but are political and ethical norms. If you breach these conventions, expect blow back. Following the formal law is not all there is to acting appropriately in government.
6 The Governor-General of Australia could conceivably have said no to swearing the PM in to the extra ministries, given that doing so was against conventions.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
