Morrison, who was prime minister from 2018 until losing May’s election to Albane, held the ministries of health, home affairs, resources, finance and the Treasury between March 2020 and May 2021. His decision to take joint control of the portfolios was made without the knowledge of parliament, civil servants or even some of the relevant ministers. The news that Morrison was running a “shadow government”, revealed in part by journalists who had written a book about the former prime minister’s handling of the pandemic, was condemned across the political spectrum, including within the Liberal Party itself. Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal prime minister who preceded Morrison, described the appointments as “appalling” and said everyone involved had shown a “severe lack of respect for democratic governance”. Albanese has sought legal advice and said he is open to a royal commission inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, including the unprecedented appointments. Australia’s prime minister said on Tuesday it was unclear why Morrison had given himself broad powers and failed to inform the public. Albanese added that the decision to keep appointments secret, even from the cabinet, “trashed” political conventions and trust in the political process. “It undermined our democracy. It is an attack on the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy as we know it,” Albanese said. Morrison, who is still a sitting MP, issued a lengthy statement on his Facebook page defending his actions. He said he considered it a “prudent and responsible action” because of the risk of ministers contracting Covid-19 during the pandemic. He cited the example of Boris Johnson, the British prime minister who was hospitalized after contracting the virus, to justify his actions. Morrison apologized to his colleagues and former ministers and said he had only used the expanded powers once, when he overruled his resources minister to block a gas exploration project. Karen Andrews, who was home secretary under Morrison, said she was “not aware” he had been appointed to her ministry and called on the former prime minister to resign from parliament.

Peter Dutton, who took over as leader of the Liberal Party after the election, said he was also unaware of the appointments. But on Tuesday, he accused Albanese of taking “political advantage” of the revelations and said governments around the world needed to adopt “war-like” responses to the pandemic. Mark Kenny, a politics professor at the Australian National University, said the issue for Morrison was the “secrecy and deception” of the power grab. “I think he had a messiah complex,” Kenny said. “It makes a mockery of Westminster’s system of responsible government.” Albanese reflected on his former opponent’s description of himself during the election campaign as a “bulldozer”. “It turned out to be the world’s first stealth bulldozer,” Albanese said.