Even during war time, the PM at the time did not feel necessary to go the extent that Scomo did to put himself having multiple ministerial powers. And even if any of his ministers would have succumbed to the virus, he could easily swear himself or another person duly to assume the ministerial position...its not like the former LNP Govt were all that truly up to speed and on the mark in managing the COVID crisis anyway to be in such a position of difficulty without a cabinet minister for a few days at most.
And can we even believe the explanation that all his actions were undertaken in the name of national interests, i.e to protect us. LOL.
Or a cynical view may be that he had to have the necessary powers at his disposal so he could overrule any of his cabinet ministers who did not agree with him or who would have placed his political interest in jeopardy [ as he did with the decision to overrule the resources minister as if he really cared about the environment, no it was to fend off the rise of the teals] because the main thing on his head on a daily basis had been his political scorecard. Such is the extent some people would do to ensure a political victory- isn't that consistent with his instruction to broadcast the arrival of asylum seekers via SMS to get people to resonate with his border control policy.
This tells us we have to be ever so careful about leaders who let power get into their head. Thankfully most of us saw it in him, but many though were caught up in the rhetoric of ideology to be able to see the person that he is. Exactly the situation with Trump. That one is even bigger than ever - he can do all the things leaders should never do , and yet he gets immense support. Has it come to a point that people no longer cared about what is right or wrong, morals do not count, laws and institutions do not count, as long as the leader tells us something or do things that resonate with our pent-up discontent and vested interests.
