Australia news live: Scott Morrison declines to comment on secret ministry swearing-ins | Australia news

Josh Butler

Pitt: Morrison’s secret ministerial self-appointments ‘unusual’

Keith Pitt, the former minister for resources, said the arrangements around former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secretive ministerial self-appointments were “unusual” but has resisted wading further into the explosive debate.

A new book, Plagued, reports Morrison secretly appointed himself minister for health and finance during the early stages of the pandemic. A News.com.au article reported that Morrison also made himself resources minister in 2021.

Pitt, the minister at the time Morrison reportedly made himself minister for resources too, told Sky News on Monday afternoon that he hadn’t read the book or made any contribution to it.

He added that decisions around ministerial appointments are “clearly not decisions that I was involved with, generally that would be discussion between the two leaders of the parties in Coalition.”

But Pitt did respond that “certainly there’s no doubt it was unusual”.

Morrison declines to comment on secret ministry swearing-ins

Josh Butler

Sky News has reported that former prime minister Scott Morrison has declined to comment on the explosive revelations that he had himself secretly sworn into various ministry portfolios during his time in office, claiming “I haven’t engaged in any day to day politics” since losing the May election.

Current PM Anthony Albanese has accused Morrison of “tinpot” behaviour and running a “shadow government”.

Morrison told Sky “I haven’t seen what he [Albanese] has said.”

Guardian Australia has contacted Morrison’s office via email several times today for comment. Reached by phone, a staff member at Morrison’s electorate office in Cronulla couldn’t confirm whether the former PM would make a statement or response today, and instead suggested we send another email.

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 27 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

NSW

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Peter Hannam

Weekend auction clearance rates rise above 60%

Recent weaker-than-feared increases in inflation at home and abroad (at least, in the US) may be showing up in property markets.

One weekend, of course, doesn’t make a revival, but the past week’s auction clearance rates nudged above 60% in capital cities for the first time in 10 weeks, according to CoreLogic.

The average clearance rate rose for a third week in a row to 61.5% according to preliminary data – which will likely be trimmed a couple of percentage points once the numbers settle.

One thing to note is that the number of auctions continues to be lower than this time a year ago, including by almost a third (29.6%) in Melbourne. The initial clearance rate there was 65.5%, the best since early May when the Reserve Bank began lifting its cash rate.

Sydney bucked the trend a bit, with about 12% more auctions than a year ago, CoreLogic said. The number of homes going under the hammer was up 29% on the previous week but the clearance rate remained around the 60% mark, at least on the initial snapshot.

The RBA, of course, will have a big say in whether the property market stabilises or trends lower as borrowing costs rise. As of Friday, investors were still rating the chance of another 50 basis point increase in the cash rate – to 2.35% – as a three-in-four prospect.

Meanwhile, another sign that cost of living pressures are easing is coming from oil prices. The latest weekly readout from the Australian Institute of Petroleum charts continuing falls in average prices.

Travelling in Melbourne over the weekend, it was possible to buy fuel at around 155 cents per litre, while some service stations were charging about 195 cents. Despite suspicions, though, the average mark-up is, well, back to average levels.

Come the early hours of 29 September the federal government’s excise holiday will end, and 22.1 cents per litre will be added back on.

You can bet the average between wholesale and retail prices will widen in the run-up to that date as motorists flock to fill up – assuming treasurer Jim Chalmers doesn’t extend the excise cut.

Morrison’s appointment to other portfolios followed ‘normal process’: governor general

Josh Butler

Government House has confirmed that governor general David Hurley appointed former prime minister Scott Morrison to administer other portfolios, after advice from the then-Coalition government.

A spokesman for Hurley said such appointments do not require a swearing-in ceremony, and said that publicising such ministerial appointments is solely a matter for the government. He said:

The governor general, following normal process and acting on the advice of the government of the day, appointed former prime minister Morrison to administer portfolios other than the department of the prime minister and cabinet. The appointments were made consistently with section 64 of the constitution.

It is not uncommon for ministers to be appointed to administer departments other than their portfolio responsibility. These appointments do not require a swearing-in ceremony – the governor general signs an administrative instrument on the advice of the prime minister.

Questions around appointments of this nature are a matter for the government of the day and the department of the prime minister and cabinet. Similarly, the decision whether to publicise appointments to administer additional portfolios is a matter for the government of the day.

Read the original story here:

Two people with Covid have died in Western Australia overnight, with the state recording 1,605 new cases, 303 people in hospital, and nine in ICU.

Four people with Covid have died in South Australia overnight, with the state recording 1,194 new cases, 274 people in hospital, and 12 in ICU.