Liberal MP Bridget Archer crosses floor to bring on federal ICAC debate
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused Labor of wanting a “kangaroo court” to deliver the same “disgraceful treatment” that ousted former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
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On the defence after an “undemocratic technicality” saved the government from losing a vote on a federal corruption watchdog, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused Labor of wanting a “kangaroo court” to deliver the same “disgraceful treatment” that ousted former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Despite pleading with his colleagues for “unity” after five Coalition senators voted against the government earlier this week, Mr Morrison suffered another blow on Thursday when Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to back debate on a crossbench bill seeking to establish a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
With Ms Archer’s support the government lost the vote 64 to 66, but the motion still failed because parliamentary rules required an “absolute majority” of 76 and a large number of MPs were away due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Independent MP Helen Haines, who created the crossbench ICAC bill, described the result as an “undemocratic technicality” and vowed to continue to fight for her proposal, which is seen as more robust than the government’s own version.
During Question Time Mr Morrison attempted to turn the attack around on Labor, asking why the opposition wouldn’t support the government’s national integrity commission bill.
“(Labor) don’t want to have a Commonwealth integrity commission, they want a Commonwealth kangaroo court,” he said.
“A kangaroo court that can go and … pursue political vendettas as we have seen in NSW with disgraceful treatment of the former Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian who was chased out of office before (NSW ICAC) even made a finding.
“The leader of the Labor Party may support what was done to Gladys Berejiklian, but I do not.”
The Morrison Government first committed to introduce a federal integrity commission in December 2018, but did not release a draft until the end of 2020.
Ms Haines said Mr Morrison and his government were “standing in the way” of the “will of the parliament” to introduce a federal ICAC.
“It’s absolutely clear now that this Prime Minister, this government, does not wish to instigate a federal integrity commission,” she said.
After crossing the floor to vote with the crossbench and Labor against her own side, Ms Archer told the parliament she did not “take this decision lightly”.
“This is one of the most important things we come to this place to do … the time has gone on long enough,” she said.
ROGUE LIB IGNORE’S PM’S UNITY PLEA
Threats to cross the floor are wreaking havoc on the Morrison Government, with a Liberal MP moving to back a crossbench proposal to create a federal corruption watchdog.
Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who holds the Tasmanian marginal seat of Bass, seconded a motion to suspend parliament and bring on debate of a bill by independent MP Helen Haines establishing a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and crossed the floor to vote against the Coalition.
Ms Archer’s move meant the government lost the vote 64 to 66, but because parliament’s rules required an “absolute majority” of 76 votes, and many MPs are not in Canberra due to Covid-19 restrictions, the motion did not pass.
The loss was still a major blow for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has repeatedly shrugged off division within in the Coalition after a multiple renegade members crossed the floor earlier this week.
Mr Morrison on Tuesday warned his colleagues they risked handing Labor government at the next election if they did not reign themselves with “discipline” and “unity”.
Had Ms Haines’ bill passed parliament, it would have further embarrassed the government, which is planning on bringing in its own integrity commission legislation.
Ms Archer told media she was prepared to support Ms Haines’ proposal due to the government’s “inertia” over establishing a national version of an ICAC, having promised to introduce an integrity commission almost three years ago before the last federal election.
The government released a draft bill for a federal ICAC in November 2020, but it was criticised for being too soft, leading to pressure from within the Coalition and other advocates to bolster the revised version.
But a year later, there has not been another draft released, leading the crossbench to propose its own alternative.
“I am a bit perplexed at one level as to why we haven’t brought something forward, I accept there was a draft bill, there was extensive consultation, there were a number of submissions … and it would have been my expectation that some work would have been going on to draft it, given the feedback,” Ms Archer told the Guardian.
“To be perfectly clear, I always reserve my right to cross the floor, that is one of the reasons I sit on this side (in the Liberal party).”
Ms Haines has described her ICAC bill as one including “all of the robust features of an integrity commission with teeth, and safeguards that means we don’t see vexatious and frivolous referrals”.
During Question Time on Wednesday Mr Morrison said the Covid-19 pandemic had been the focus of the government, but it was now turning back to “priority” legislation.
“The attorney general has been working steadily away and been working with cabinet on our draft legislation for an integrity commission, and that also soon will be available for people to give their responses to, and we will see whether that has support,” he said.
Last year Ms Archer took a stand against the Coalition’s planned expansion of the cashless welfare card system and threatened to cross the floor and vote the bill down.
She ultimately decided to abstain, which meant the expansion bill passed by just one vote.
In a chaotic start to the final fortnight of parliament for 2021 on Monday, five Coalition senators crossed the floor against the government to back the failed “vaccine discrimination” bill.
Despite Mr Morrison having no constitutional power to stop state vaccine requirements, Liberal senators Gerard Rennick, Alex Antic and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and Nationals senators Matt Canavan and Sam McMahon backed the controversial “vaccine discrimination” bill.
Mr Rennick and Mr Antic also threatened to abstain from all government legislation in the senate unless Mr Morrison made a move to end vaccine mandates.
The government then lost its bid to launch a senate inquiry into the ABC’s complaints system on a procedural vote on Tuesday after Mr Rennick did not turn up to vote.
On Wednesday the government announced it was lowering the threshold for people to be able to claim compensation if they suffered an adverse reaction to a Covid-19 vaccine, which had been an ongoing demand from Mr Rennick.
It is understood the change to the compensation threshold was made in exchange for guaranteed support from the renegade senators on procedural votes.
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