Governor general delayed giving Scott Morrison additional portfolios in 2021, FoI documents show

The governor general, David Hurley, kept Scott Morrison waiting longer to be officially appointed to the secret portfolios he requested in 2021 compared with earlier in the pandemic, documents obtained under freedom of information laws show.

It took two weeks for Hurley to sign the instrument making Morrison the treasurer and home affairs minister after the then prime minister requested those additional powers in April 2021.

The letters Morrison signed and sent to Hurley recommending the additional portfolio appointments were obtained by Guardian Australia under FoI laws.

The same formulation was used in the 22 April letter regarding treasury and home affairs.

The Diser appointment was the exception with Morrison seeking powers over that portfolio to make a decision to block the Pep-11 gas exploration project.

Morrison also defended his decision to keep the appointments largely secret from the other ministers already in those portfolios.