Morrison and Pompeo: an off-the-books foreign policy bond that needs probing

So where do Scott Morrison’s secrets begin and end when it comes to taking on the powers of other ministers?

As well as the three ministries revealed yesterday there is also the question of Foreign Affairs and, with that, Australia’s position with respect to China — and perhaps related defence moves.

The secret influence of former US secretary of state to President Trump, Mike Pompeo, looms large. Earlier this year it quietly emerged that as prime minister, Morrison was in constant contact with Pompeo whose time in office was defined by his belligerence towards China. 

The Australian‘s Paul Kelly had the story in February, three months before the federal election. It’s worth quoting it at length:

‘The key to my relationship with the [Trump] administration was deeply rooted in my relationship with Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo,’ Kelly quoted Morrison as saying. ‘He [Morrison] said his contact with Pompeo was “weekly, not necessarily on the phone, but we were regular correspondents”.’ They had a faith connection. “We’re evangelical Christians,” Morrison said.

Was then foreign minister Marise Payne kept in the loop on these conversations which surely covered precisely her patch? Did she even know they were happening? Was there any official record of the weekly contact between Australia’s prime minister and the US secretary of state, Crikey asked Payne at the time — and received no answer. 

So what’s the relevance now?

Pompeo was in office from April 2018 to January 2021. During this time Australia shifted its position markedly on China, in lockstep with the Trump administration. Morrison also floated the idea of shifting Australia’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a move precisely in line with US policy under Pompeo (and informed by evangelical religious conviction).

How much more influence was there? It’s worth quoting Kelly a little further on Morrison’s reach into Australia’s foreign policy.

‘Morrison’s instinct is for ambition and activism. He rarely defers to others and puts the stamp of his style and judgments all over Australian foreign policy,’ Kelly wrote, noting that Morrison’s ‘initial lack of experience’ didn’t get in the way of his ambitions in ‘the diplomatic domain’.

Morrison is a quick learner and, as a politician, has an instinct for power. And he is bold — his secret effort to secure the nuclear-­powered submarine decision is a singular example of executive decision-making that only prime ministers can pull off.

A pattern is taking shape here. Morrison acting alone. Keeping secrets.

Morrison’s close contact with Pompeo was not known to the broader Australian public, despite it being fundamental to official Australia-US relations. How much did he tell his government colleagues? How much influence did Pompeo wield on China?

The other disturbing element is Morrison’s habit of confiding all this to journalists from The Australian, before his own government colleagues. The Australian public? Pfffft.

There is the prospect of more emerging on Morrison’s secret assumption of ministerial powers, beyond the portfolios of Health, Finance and Resources. Already this morning AAP has added Social Services.

As the Albanese government investigates the extent of Morrison’s secrets it might also examine Morrison’s off-the-books conduct with Pompeo to determine how much was officially recorded and passed on to colleagues, in particular the foreign and defence ministers, and their departments.

Kelly also noted in his piece that “the bulk of foreign and security thinking within government was broadly in line with Morrison’s approach” and that “dissenters were few on the ground”.

“Australian policymaking from the 2003 Iraq War onwards reveals that once a prime minister takes a firm position, there is little appetite for internal questioning by officials within the ­system,” he wrote.

If that is correct then Australia has potentially been placed in a vulnerable position with a prime minister, weak on foreign policy experience, having Pompeo on speed-dial, along with all his agendas for US power.

To use the words of US neocon Donald Rumsfeld, we can now say of Morrison that there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is we know there are some things we do not know.

It’s that last line that should worry us now as the full extent of Morrison’s self-delusion begins to emerge.

Does what we don’t know about Morrison’s secret moves worry you? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.