General Discussions

[DJC]

It's a bit hard to judge this, as much as I want to slam Scotty the facts are not yet known, the media will want to paint it one way, however the implementation was clearly dodgy.

For example, I could argue that early in the pandemic the needs for leadership, governance and management were not clear. In this regard it's easier to take over an established portfolio, or more than one if needed, given they have established bureaucracy in place, than it would be to lump the unknowns of the pandemic on any individual. It was probably reasonable to say I can look over the day to day of several ministries, some ministers being constrained by border closures and the like, and free them to address the unknown pandemic as a team.

It also meant that the newly formed national cabinet had an equivalence across state and federal boundaries.

Even so, he should have done all this with transparency not secrecy, it left someone like Frydenberg in an untenable situation, and reeks of a secret NSW takeover of Federal politics.

I would think the biggest issues are yet to surface, wait until the states do a retrospective analysis of this.

Yes LP, it’s easy to see how multiple ministers could have been necessary when COVID was taking off.  Dutton said as much on the wireless yesterday.  However, placing all of that power in the hands of one person, and the secrecy around Scotty’s appointments, smacks of megalomania and a complete disregard for the Westminster system and the need for transparency in government.

I expect that the folk who were outraged by the Victorian Government’s state of emergency legislation will be up in arms about Scotty’s attempt at presidential rule.