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“I would have been asking questions,” McKenzie says, when asked what she would have done had she been aware that former prime minister Scott Morrison was surfing in on others’ turf.

“Our system relies on long-standing conventions,” McKenzie says, when asked if the appointments should have been made public.

As for former prime minister Scott Morrison, she says it’s up to him to decide what to do. “We need to understand the decision-making process,” she says:

We need to understand whether this was a precedent set, and under what authority.

McKenzie: secret ministerial appointments ‘absolutely unprecedented’

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie tells the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that the revelations of the multiple portfolios former prime minister Scott Morrison nabbed for himself are “absolutely unprecedented”. She said:

I think these revelations do bring into question our Westminster system of government, the conventions that underpin how we have confidence and trust in our parliamentary system.

As a former cabinet minister in the Turnbull and Morrison governments I took those connections very seriously.

Who was the senior minister? What if they disagree? McKenzie says there are a lot of questions that have been raised. “Was the governor general informed or not?”.

Australian government issues statement on anniversary of the fall of Kabul

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the immigration minister, Andrew Giles, have issued a statement on the anniversary of the fall of Kabul:

One year on from the fall of Kabul our thoughts are with the people of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghan community in Australia and around the world.

We acknowledge the brave contribution and sacrifices made by more than 39,000 Australian Defence Force and civilian personnel who conducted or supported operations in Afghanistan over 20 years.

In this time, Australia contributed to the Nato-led mission towards capacity building in counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, and national security.

We are proud of their service.

We remember the 41 Australian soldiers who died on operations in Afghanistan and will never forget their ultimate sacrifice.

Some of our people continue to live with lasting physical and mental scars, and tragically we have lost more of our people since they returned home.

The fall of Kabul led to one of Australia’s largest humanitarian evacuations.

4,100 people were evacuated from Kabul, the statement says. They’re working on the rest.

One of Australia’s top constitutional lawyers, Anne Twomey, has penned an explainer for The Conversation on all that prime ministerial portfolio hoarding.

Twomey, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sydney, goes through the ins and outs and writes:

It is inappropriate for such matters to be kept secret – especially if it is kept secret from the cabinet and from the minister who was formally allocated responsibility for a portfolio by the governor general.

Such a lack of transparency is indicative of a lack of respect for the institutions of government and for the general public who have a right to know how power is allocated.

Fish and chips next on the budgeting chopping block? Gah, you can keep your iceberg lettuce. (Also, it’s fair to assume this goes for potato scallops as well…):

Can’t get enough of the multi-tasking prime minister? Sarah Martin brings you the latest on Scott Morrison hitting the override button. With pep!:

Peter Hannam

The week to come in economic numbers

Economic news this week looks like it will be dominated by labour-related numbers that may also feature prominently at the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit on 1-2 September.

The wage price index numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday will likely remind everybody how much real wages are being eroded by inflation.

The June quarter figures will show wages rose at an annual rate of about 2.7%, up from the 2.4% pace in the March quarter, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia estimates. The bank’s own indicators point that way, although the result will be far short of the consumer price index’s June quarter 6.1% increase.

(It seems an age ago now but the weak WPI reading, landing just three days before the federal election, was the final of three unhappy results for the Coalition during the official campaign. The other two were the spike in CPI and the Reserve Bank lifting its cash rate the following week.)

Other labour numbers of note include Thursday’s release of July labour market figures, including whether the jobless rate remains at 3.5% – the lowest in almost half a century. A strong result, such as lots more jobs added and a lower unemployment rate, would likely stoke expectations of (a lot) more RBA rate rises to come.

Also worth watching will be average weekly earnings data, also out on Thursday, giving a twice-yearly look at how our wages are going (mostly backwards).

The RBA’s main scheduled event is the release on Tuesday of the minutes of its August board meeting when it lifted its cash rate for a fourth meeting in a row (and making it the most aggressive series of increases since 1994 – no idea whose music was popular then).

We’ll get a bit more insight into the central bank’s thinking about the pace of future rises. That said, the RBA’s quarterly statement on monetary policy, released a couple of days after the 2 August meeting, has already filled in many of the blanks.

Apropos of an earlier post about renewables keeping a lid on electricity prices today, here’s an interesting note from Aemo, the energy market operator. It says Queensland yesterday posted record low power demand, thanks mostly to a sunny day helping solar panel owners avoid tapping into the grid.

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”.

A person’s body has been found in Melbourne’s Yarra River

AAP reports:

The body was found about 12.40pm at South Wharf Promenade on Monday and police are yet to formally identify the person.

A post-mortem would be conducted to determine their cause of death, but it appeared to be non-suspicious, police said.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

Some good news out of New Zealand – signs the winter Omicron wave is easing. Tess McClure reports infections are at their lowest level in six months:

Here’s an extraordinary story from the ABC about Marley. As a toddler he began to choke and vomit when eating. Later, he started wheezing, and was diagnosed with asthma.

Years later, doctors finally worked it out. Marley had a plastic flower stuck in his throat!

Worse than the old pea up the nose, surely.