Prime Minister Scott Morrison launches offshore medical transfer plan to avert parliamentary pain

A new panel will review every decision to reject the medical transfer of boat people on Manus Island and Nauru as the Coalition desperately attempts to avoid a historic defeat on the floor of parliament.

A new panel will review every decision to reject the medical transfer of boat people on Manus Island and Nauru as the Coalition desperately attempts to avoid a historic defeat on the floor of parliament.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will today unveil the plan which he argues will give the public confidence that all decisions to knock back transfers are thoroughly considered by medical experts.

The government will use the announcement in an 11th hour bid to convince crossbenchers to block a Labor-backed proposal that would allow asylum seekers and refugees into Australia with the sign-off of only two doctors which had been set to pass parliament when it resumes next week.

Lorengau Hospital on Manus Island in November 2017. Picture: Amnesty International

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If the vote succeeds it would be the first time a government has been defeated on a substantive piece of legislation in the House of Representatives since prime minister Stanley Bruce lost a vote on an industrial relations policy in 1929.

The Daily Telegraph understands the government hopes to persuade Victorian independent Cathy McGowan to switch sides and vote with it insisting the new panel was a credible alternative plan to reform medical transfers without threatening border security.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is hoping Victorian independent Cathy McGowan will switch sides and vote with the government. Picture: Kym Smith

It follows the revelation on Sunday that the final four children being held on Nauru would be flown to US with their families for resettlement that within days.

“We’ve always had a medical transfers process but this is about giving Australians greater assurance that people in offshore processing get the right support,” Mr Morrison said.

“Operation Sovereign Borders strikes the compassionate balance between stopping the boats, and ensuring genuine asylum seekers are recognised and resettled in a safe third country.

“Unlike Labor and the laws they’re supporting through the parliament, we’ll never outsource Australia’s strong border protection to activists.

“Under Labor, we’d see a repeat of the horror show that saw 50,000 people arrive on 800 boats because they want to tear down all the people smuggling deterrents and successful policies we’ve put in place.”

A satellite image of the northeast of Manus Island.

Labor is refusing to say whether the government’s proposed fix will be enough the call off the vote on the Greens and crossbench proposal demanding more detail around the timing of reviews.

Opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann claimed Mr Morrison had been “forced into a humiliating backflip, caving to the pressure of the parliament”.

He said the announcement was proof there was a concession from the government about the need for a medical review panel.

“Both Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton have said the medical transfer arrangements currently in place did not need to change and shamefully claimed having a panel of medical experts would start the boats again,” Mr Neumann said.

“Labor believes that medical transfers to alternative treatment locations for refugees in regional processing centres should be made available when treatment is recommended by appropriate medical practitioners, without compromising our strong border protection measures.”

The government’s plan makes no changes to the existing powers the Immigration Minister has to veto transfers.

The new Medical Transfer Clinical Assurance Panel will automatically review any decision by the Home Affairs’ Transitory Persons’ Committee to block a refugee or asylum seeker from coming to Australia.

The Panel — made up of nominees of the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Foundation House chief executive, Australian Medical Association president and Home Affairs chief medical officer — will provide a report to a parliament twice a year to provide further scrutiny of transfer decisions.

Adam Bandt, Andrew Wilkie, Dr Kerryn Phelps and Greens Senator Nick McKim talk to media about a crossbench bill for the urgent evacuation to Australia of any asylum seeker on Nauru or Manus Island, and their families, if they are unable to be treated offshore on the recommendation of two or more treating doctors. Picture: Gary Ramage

Independent MP Kerryn Phelps, who put the issue of medical transfers on the agenda during the Wentworth campaign, said the government’s announcement was a “recognition that the system is broken” but that it didn’t go far enough.

“Until now there has been a long, lengthy delay, there has almost been obsessive legal intervention to try and stop people who are ill from being transferred over to Australia for the care they need,” she told the ABC.

“It’s not going to solve the problem because we still have bureaucrats making the medical decisions and then being reviewed by a medical panel.”

Mr Morrison will also announce that the government will work with the Pacific International Hospital in Port Moresby to establish an inpatient mental health service.

Under the Greens and crossbench proposal as soon as two doctors believe that an individual should be assessed — not necessarily require treatment — for any medical condition they would get the green light to come to Australia.

The Immigration Minister would only has 24 hours to prove there was a medical reason or national security threat to stop it.

On the final day of sitting last year the government used parliamentary tactics to delay a vote on the plan which because of Labor’s support would have passed the House.