Former prime minister Scott Morrison is resisting calls to quit parliament following revelations he secretly appointed himself to five ministerial portfolios.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed on Tuesday that Mr Morrison had appointed himself to the finance, treasury, health, home affairs and resources portfolios between March 2020 and May 2021.
One of Mr Morrison's decisions as resources minister - in relation to the PEP-11 gas project off the NSW coast - is before the Federal Court.
The solicitor-general is preparing advice for Mr Albanese to be delivered on Monday on whether there are other legal issues at play relating to Mr Morrison's actions.
Mr Morrison defended his actions, saying the move was for an emergency scenario when he would need to act in the national interest.
"It was a very extraordinary time that tested every sinew and fabric of government ... (and) Australian society," he told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.
"We took decisions - I did as a prime minister, we did as a cabinet - at federal and state level that some of us would never have dreamed we would ever have to make."
Mr Morrison added the lawful move, based on advice from his department, wasn't a power grab as he never used the powers or overruled ministers, apart from the resources portfolio decision.
"As prime minister, only I could really understand the weight of responsibility that was on my shoulders," he said.
"The non-exercising of these powers proves that they were handled responsibly, that they were not abused, that they were there in a reserve capacity to ensure the prime minister could act if that was necessary."
Mr Morrison says he kept the powers a secret to not undermine his ministers.
"I was concerned these issues could have been misconstrued and misunderstood and undermine the confidence of ministers in the performance of their duties at that time," he said.
"To best of my recollection ... I didn't exercise any override of any of the ministers in any of their agencies except for (PEP-11)."
One of Mr Morrison's former ministerial colleagues, Karen Andrews - who was unaware she was being shadowed in her role by the Liberal leader - has called on him to quit parliament.
Mr Morrison has apologised to his colleagues for keeping them in the dark.
A number of crossbenchers have flagged referring Mr Morrison to parliamentary committees.
He said he was happy to cooperate with any "genuine or positive process" that examined the government's pandemic response.
Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey says legal systems were already in place, with acting ministers able to be appointed when a minister is sick or on leave.
"It seems there's this presidential view of, 'Hey, I'm the leader, therefore I must have responsibility for everything'," she told Sky News.
"That's a real denial of the actual system of government we've got."
Labor is considering ways to make ministerial appointments more transparent.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he will work with the government to ensure "checks and balances are put in place to make sure it can't happen again".
Mr Albanese called on the former prime minister to apologise to the Australian people for "a trashing of our democratic system", saying democracy cannot be taken for granted.
"Democracy is in retreat worldwide. There's people fighting now in Ukraine to protect democracy ... you have a rise of undemocratic regimes. Our democracy is precious, we need to defend it and strengthen it, not undermine it," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"(It's) a clear misleading of the parliament, whereby parliamentarians and ministers are held to account for areas in which they have responsibility."
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley criticised Mr Albanese for not focusing on the cost of living and skills shortages.
"Australians want him to focus on the issues in their lives. Nothing in this is going to bring down your power bills," she told Sky News.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said intelligence chiefs were unaware of Mr Morrison's self-appointment to the important role.
© AAP 2022