‘“Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said Hurley should explain his thought process.
"The governor-general is not just a rubber stamp. They have a Constitution to uphold," Turnbull said on ABC radio.
Turnbull said if he had attempted to secretly appoint himself to a ministry, neither former governor-general Peter Cosgrove nor his own senior staff would have allowed it.
One conservative Liberal MP said there were serious questions about the role of the governor-general in the appointments, which is yet to be fully revealed.
"Did he report this to the Queen - did he get advice from outside to know if what was being asked was actually legal," they said on condition of anonymity.’
[Nine Entertainment-Fairfax journalists Katina Curtis and James Massola writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 August 2022]
"So, we have a few questions. Did the Governor-General not understand the perverse implications of having dual ministers? Did he not realise that every daily Hansard, which list ministers and their portfolios for every parliamentary session, was misleading? And if the Governor-General did not see these problems, what was he and his staff doing? If Governor-General Hurley did have qualms, did he ask for and wait for authoritative legal advice. If all he had was the opinion of the then-attorney general Christian Porter, did he not appreciate such advice would be insufficient? Accepting legal advice from Mr Porter would have been akin to using a prescription written by the then-health minister Mr Hunt.”
[Tony Harris former NSW Auditor General and senior Commonwealth officer writing in The Australian, 17 August 2022]
