Man in a hurry: Scott Morrison’s power grab putting off cabinet…

An opinion piece after 54:47 poll disaster for Abbott, Hockey is done and dusted Turnbull is not liked by the Right so Scott Morrison has to be dealt with.

On September 30, The Australian revealed that Morrison might be hoping to secure extra duties in a beefed-up Homeland Security-type portfolio. The proposal would have seen Australian Federal Police, Customs and intelligence services, as well as some other agencies, brought under Morrison’s watch. The cabinet has not endorsed the idea, which had been examined separately by a bureaucratic review of our ­security services.

The new portfolio would have seen deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop give up responsibilities, but she was having none of it. Bishop issued a sharp rebuke to Morrison when The Australian broke the story.

Attorney-General George Brandis also would have lost responsibilities under the Morrison push. Brandis used an address to the National Press Club to repel the idea. And he chose not to be diplomatic about it when doing so. Brandis’s junior minister, Justice Minister Michael Keenan, also would have been forced to shed powers to Morrison under the Immigration Minister’s ambitions. Keenan already lost border protection from his ambit of ­duties when the Coalition came into government.

This week we have seen reports that Morrison now wants to take over biosecurity responsibilities from Nationals deputy leader and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, who was surprisingly diplomatic in question time on Wednesday when opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon pressed him on the issue.

Biosecurity has long been a tightly held responsibility of Nationals ministers when the Coalition holds office. “You should hear what he says privately about Scott’s power grab,” a Nationals MP told me. “It would be fair to say he wasn’t nearly as calm.” We know Joyce pushed back hard against Morrison internally, airing his displeasure to the Prime Minister’s Office.

But Morrison’s desire to secure more powers doesn’t stop with needling at the portfolios of Bishop, Brandis, Keenan and Joyce. He’s also after responsibilities that are the preserve of Health Minister Peter Dutton. Wrapped up with biosecurity are the healthcare responsibilities of managing Australia’s response to the Ebola crisis. Morrison thinks he is the best man for that job, too.

The Immigration Minister has been successful at “stopping the boats”, whether opponents of his harsh approach (such as me) like it or not. Morrison therefore carries significant political capital wherever he goes. And judging by his efforts to nudge colleagues out of the way, he has become rather confident in his capacity to deliver pretty much anything.

The push for a super portfolio, dismissed publicly as “speculation”, is reminiscent of Julia Gillard’s super portfolio of education and industrial relations, which ensured that while she didn’t damage the uneasy truce between Kevin Rudd and Treasury spokesman Wayne Swan at the time, she remained a cut above other frontbench colleagues.

The difference now is that Morrison isn’t the deputy, which Gillard was. He has no rights to seek further responsibilities so soon after entering government, and the tensions and destabilisation such pushing creates risks getting Tony Abbott off-side. Which would be an unnecessary aggravation by Morrison, as ­Abbott the conservative would probably like to see the religious conservative Morrison overtake the likes of Bishop, Joe Hockey and Malcolm Turnbull as the natural leadership successor.

It is hard to fathom why Morrison is in such a rush. Some politicians can’t help but stay in perpetual motion. That was always Rudd’s problem.

Morrison needs to be careful because his senior colleagues are growing tired of what they privately describe as Morrison’s “I’m always right” approach to any discussion. One cabinet minister told me: “He’s great to deal with until he disagrees with you about something. Then you see the real Scott, and it’s not pleasant.”

That’s a character assessment that Labor MPs started to make about Rudd soon after he became PM. While Morrison has shown a competence in his portfolio that Rudd rarely did, ministerial successes can’t paper over personal animosities caused by impolite ­interactions with colleagues. ­Managing up doesn’t always work in a democratic party structure.

We already knew before the Coalition won office that Morrison was keen on a change of portfolio as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Now, however, with the broad issue of national security likely to be front and centre alongside the economy for the remainder of this term, it is perhaps understandable that Morrison would like more of the same power rather than a switch.

At first glance there doesn’t appear to be anywhere else senior enough for him to move to. Foreign affairs is taken and that won’t change. Abbott wouldn’t dare shift Hockey out of Treasury, knowing that would unleash internal instability. Besides, Hockey works well with Mathias Cormann, who is in finance. Shifting Cormann and pairing Morrison up with Hockey would be a recipe for disaster, so that won’t happen either.

Defence was always talked about as a portfolio Morrison might like to shift into, but that is more problematic now. David Johnston is considered a weak fit, but he is close to West Australian colleague Bishop, who would likely use her authority to protect him in any reshuffle. Besides, Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert is a close ally of Morrison. He no doubt has cabinet ambitions in that portfolio space. And the PM knows defence can be a graveyard for senior ministers, which might tempt him to send Turnbull there one day to distract the member for Wentworth from ambitions beyond communications.

If Morrison isn’t happy staying where he is, and a new homeland security portfolio is out of the question, Abbott could give him the social security ministry.

Kevin Andrews then replaces Bronwyn Bishop as Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop takes up a diplomatic post in a location other than the Middle East, and Morrison can get to work on fixing, expanding and selling the all-important welfare reforms.

Success at such a task would broaden his image, carry economic (and reforming) credibility and significantly help the government. Implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme would give Morrison a chance to display a softer side.

The only loser in this scenario is Assistant Social Security Minister Mitch Fifield, who would have to work with Morrison — assuming those who complain that Morrison is hard to work with are right, of course.

While at one level it suits the PM to have rivalry among future leadership aspirants because it means they eye each other off rather than him, it also causes unrest. The leak to me out of cabinet in February that Morrison argued (unsuccessfully) for subsidising SPC Ardmona caused the Immigration Minister to complain at the following cabinet meeting that colleagues were backgrounding against him. Since that time a longer line of Morrison’s colleagues have started to leak against him as well.

The Immigration Minister needs to do more than stop the boats. He must stop agitating for promotion and rebuild his relationship with colleagues