Push to refer Morrison to powerful committee fails

In December, Greens leader Adam Bandt called for Mr Morrison to be referred to the privileges committee after he appeared to admit he had misled parliament.

But on the first day of parliament for the year, Speaker Milton Dick ruled there was not enough "prima facie evidence" that Mr Morrison had deliberately misled the House.

During the November censure motion about his secret appointments, Mr Morrison claimed the ministry list tabled in parliament referenced that ministers may be sworn to administer additional departments.

"I consider that these decisions, in hindsight, were unnecessary and that insufficient consideration was given to these decisions at the time, including non-disclosure," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Bandt said relevant ministry lists from that time did not note that the former prime minister had been appointed to additional portfolios.

He called on the Speaker to consider whether Mr Morrison's reliance on the ministry list and his admission of non-disclosure "constitutes a deliberate misleading of the House".

Mr Dick pointed to the findings of an inquiry on the matter by former High Court judge Virginia Bell which said "the lack of disclosure of the appointments to the public was apt to undermine public confidence in government".

The Speaker said this finding was the most concerning but did not think there was enough evidence to constitute a referral to the committee.

"The matter of deliberately misleading the House is a serious one and, rightly, there should be prima facie evidence that the House has been misled and the misleading has been deliberate," Mr Dick said on Monday.

"I am not able to grant precedence for referral on this occasion."

Australian Associated Press