Former prime minister Scott Morrison swore himself in as a second resources minister when Keith Pitt had the portfolio in the previous Coalition government and killed off a gas project, leaving Pitt reportedly “shocked” by strong-armed political manoeuvre.
In December 2021, Morrison went on to thwart a controversial, multimillion-dollar offshore gas project on the coast of Sydney and Newcastle known as the Pep11 — short for the Petroleum Exploration Permit 11 — which was a joint venture exploration between majority partner Asset Energy, with Bounty Energy and RL Energy.
It would’ve covered 4500 square kilometres of ocean, and in some places come within 6 kilometres of the shoreline from Manly through the Central Coast and into Newcastle, but in December the federal government announced it would refuse an application to extend the exploration permit.
A petition against the project circulated by community group Save Our Coast received 60,000 signatures and was presented to Parliament by independent and member for Wentworth Zali Steggall in February last year.
Last night Steggall tweeted that the latest revelation “shows the pressure from our communities worked. PEP11 was strongly opposed by our coastal communities”.
“It was never going to be a carbon capture and storage project. That was just the spin.”
Morrison’s confirmation of the thwarted project came as the teal independents were gaining traction in blue-ribbon seats, and could be seen as an ultimately futile effort to stem the tide of the political newcomers.
A December joint statement from Morrison, Lucy Wicks, Jason Falinski, Trent Zimmerman and Dave Sharma (all of whom lost their seats to independents) spelled out that “This project will not proceed on our watch”.
“Gas is an important part of Australia’s current and future energy mix but this is not the right project for these communities and pristine beaches and waters.”
But eyebrows were raised at the time considering Morrison’s position was at odds with his minister Pitt’s, who had shown ongoing support for the project.
The revelation Morrison installed himself as resources minister comes after a new book called Plagued from The Australian reporters by Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers revealed the then-PM also swore himself in as finance minister alongside Mathias Cormann and health minister alongside Greg Hunt during the pandemic.
More explosive reporting has followed this morning, with The Australian revealing Morrison was quietly appointed by Governor-General David Hurley to take control of the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources in April last year.
Mathias Cormann reportedly learned of the fact Morrison had his portfolio at the same time during the past weekend upon reading the newspapers.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce told news.com.au he was not aware of Morrison’s December 2021 move to roll Pitt, and didn’t approve of it.
“I do believe in a cabinet form of government, which means cabinet ministers have responsibility for their portfolio,” Joyce said.
“I don’t believe in a presidential form of government.
“If you don’t like cabinet ministers, there’s a simple solution: you sack them.”
Emma Elsworthy is Climate Editor at Crikey, SmartCompany, and The Mandarin, and writes daily morning newsletter the Worm. Before joining Crikey in 2021, Emma was a breaking news reporter in ABC’s Sydney newsroom, a journalist at BBC Australia, and a journalist in Fairfax Media’s regional network. She was part of a team awarded a Walkley for coverage of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire crisis, and won the Australian Press Council prize in 2013.
