"Elected representatives are responsible for public expenditure and take advice,not direction,from the public service ... The operation of ministerial discretion is important to our democratic process."
Mr Morrison referred Senator McKenzie's alleged misuse of a $100 million sports grant program for Mr Gaetjens to investigate afterThe Age and theSydney Morning Herald revealed the minister had not publicly disclosed she became a member of the Wangaratta Clay Target Club a month before announcing the grant.
The saga had engulfed the Coalition,leading to calls from Labor and independent MPs for Senator McKenzie to resign and for a Senate inquiry into the program.
Announcing her resignation in Canberra on Sunday,Mr Morrison said ministerial standards were"about accountability".
"What has been identified here through this process has been a lack of transparency and a lack of detail on the processes used by the minister and exercising discretion,"he said.
"Minister McKenzie has shown a great respect for the statement of standards. She has honoured those,that statement of standards and the decision that she has taken today by offering her resignation to me this afternoon."
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He said the review had found no evidence that Senator McKenzie's was unduly influenced by reference to marginal or targeted electorates and there was"no basis for this suggestion that political considerations were the primary determining factor".
Mr Morrison said Senator McKenzie had done an"outstanding job"serving rural and regional Australia since becoming agriculture minister following last May's election victory.
"She has been a drought champion for these farming and rural communities,"he said.