Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated on Sunday that a censure motion,in which the parliament formally condemns the behaviour of an MP,was increasingly likely as MPs contacted him about the matter.
Cabinet will on Monday consider the push for a censure motion as part of a broader discussion about Bell’s inquiry. It is expected to back the six recommendations,which include legislation that would improve transparency around ministerial appointments.
The decision to censure an MP is relatively rare and the last MP to be censured was former Liberal ministerBruce Billson in 2018 for taking a paid lobbying job while he was still an MP.
Albanese said Morrison had not shown “any contrition” in his statement on Friday following the release of the Bell inquiry and “the Australian population deserves,and our democracy requires an apology for this”.
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“I’ve been contacted by parliamentarians already,not just Labor parliamentarians,who want the parliament to express a view about the usurping of parliament that occurred,” he said,noting the Bell inquiry made it very clear Morrison’s actions “undermined the faith in our parliamentary processes”.
The five Labor MPs – Victorians Julian Hill and Josh Burns,Queenslanders Shayne Neumann and Graham Perrett and Tasmanian Brian Mitchell – all publicly backed the censure of the former prime minister,while several others indicated support but did not want to speak on the record before cabinet had met.