Matthew Guy’s guarantee on pandemic powers

Opposition leader Matthew Guy has flagged a bold alternative proposal on state of emergency laws and offered an “absolute guarantee” if elected.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy has given an “absolute guarantee” to dump controversial new pandemic laws if elected to government as the legal fraternity ratchets up its condemnation of Daniel Andrews’ “unprecedented slight on democracy”.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday Mr Guy vowed to repeal the new laws that have sparked widespread community debate.

Under the legislation, which passed the lower house on Thursday evening, the Premier would have the power to make a pandemic declaration following consultation with the chief health officer, and extend it in three-month blocks for as long as he considered it necessary.

The state’s chief health officer would be stripped of the ability to make special orders, with that power to be transferred to the health minister.

It would give the government virtually unlimited capacity to restrict movement, ban public gatherings, close businesses or order quarantine requirements as required.

And the power to declare a pandemic would exist even if there had been no cases of a specific disease in Victoria for a period of time.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy has vowed to repeal the new laws. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

“I give an absolute guarantee: when we come back to government in this state, we will repeal this law because it is fundamentally right to do so,” Mr Guy said.

“This is a democracy. People fought and died for this democracy. The separation of the judiciary and this parliament is so important.

“This bill transcends all of those and trashes all those provisions that we fought for in this country. We fought and died, people in this country, not to have it trashed by the megalomaniacs who sit opposite, by the people opposite who treat all our parliament — our institutions, the separation between the judiciary and the state — as something to be played with because the bloke in charge thinks he is above it all.

“He is not above it all, he is not above the law and we are going to repeal it.”

The opposition has flagged a bold proposal that would stop governments from declaring pandemic emergencies for more than 30 days without first securing a special majority in both houses of Parliament.

Prominent barrister Paul Hayes, QC, said the proposed legislation was a “slight” on the liberty and freedom of every Victorian.

Premier Daniel Andrews has defended the bill. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“In short, there is no real check or balance on the extreme power in the hands of the Premier and the Minister for Health (such as a joint parliamentary committee, which is electorally accountable), which when exercised has the potential to substantially curb citizens’ freedoms.”

MPs, legal bodies, and civil liberties groups have all raised concerns about the proposed legislation.

Christopher Blanden QC, the president of the Victorian Bar, said the way in which the Bill was being rushed through parliament was an attack on democracy.

“The bill confers on the health minister in a practical sense an effectively unlimited power to rule the state by decree, for effectively an indefinite period, and without effective judicial or parliamentary oversight,” he said.

“That doesn’t add up to good democracy in my book. It’s a disgrace. What’s the urgency?”

Daniel Andrews hit back at the criticism, and said the laws were the “most transparent, the clearest set of rules to keep Victorians safe.”

“They can have their views but they’re not entitled to their own facts,” Mr Andrews said about criticism of the Bill and the consultation process during its drafting.

The Premier said the laws would provide a “legislative framework that’s robust and strong, with more transparency, more oversight, more accountability than any framework in the country.”

The legislation will be debated in the upper house when the parliament next sits.