Scott Morrison reveals Tony Abbott offered him treasurer job

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison revealed on Friday during a commercial radio interview that he was offered the jobs of Treasurer and deputy Liberal leader by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott the day Malcolm Turnbull was declared the 29th prime minister of Australia. Morrison indicated that the move by Abbott was an attempt to save his prime ministership from going into the hands of Turnbull.

Morrison, however, claimed that accepting the offer would have turned Treasurer Joe Hockey and deputy leader and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop against him. He told Macquarie Radio host Ray Hadley in the interview, where he was asked to swear on the bible several times, that Abbott wanted him to “throw Joe Hockey under a bus” and assume his role instead.

“The only person who offered me the job of treasurer before the ballot on Monday was Tony Abbott," he told Macquarie Radio. "He offered me the job of treasurer hours out from that ballot. He'd never done that before, he'd never had a discussion with me before about being his deputy leader. I can't understand why I was being offered that job when he had showed such strong support for Joe Hockey -- he was asking me to throw Joe Hockey under a bus."

Morrison has appeared several times on Hadley’s program on 2GB and Hadley also had clear admiration for the minister. But after being asked repeatedly to swear on the bible, Morrison told the host that he is not going to use his Christian faith for the purpose of a stunt for the program.

Yet, the minister claimed that he had no role to play in the Monday’s ballot that voted out Abbott from the role of the prime minister.

"I had no role in his demise," he said. "If [my colleagues] didn't want to vote for Mr Abbott and wanted to vote for Mr Turnbull, I should have got them to act like robots and do something against their judgement?" he asked rhetorically. “They're their own people, they make their own decisions."

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