Daniel Andrews backs down on bid to extend state of emergency for another year
The Andrews government has backed down on its bid to extend the state of emergency provisions for another 12 months, with an alternative offer put forward late on Wednesday.
Victoria
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Daniel Andrews has backed down from his plans to extend the state of emergency provisions for a year.
Crossbench sources have confirmed Health Minister Jenny Mikakos late Wednesday made an offer to reduce the time period but now wants six months instead.
However the government is refusing crossbench requests to submit ministers for grilling before a select committee.
They have instead offered to extend the current PAEC hearings on COVID.
But crossbenchers are unhappy with that deal as PAEC is stacked with Labor members and is demanding more transparency.
Negotiations are ongoing.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien hit out at the premier for failing to reveal details on the roadmap to recovery.
“Daniel Andrews seems more interested in increasing his own power and extending that than he is giving Victorians their lives back,” he said.
“Victorians want to see a plan to get us out of this state of emergency but Daniel Andrews has only got a plan to keep us in lockdown.”
He also reiterated the Opposition would not support the bill to extend Victoria’s state of emergency even with the new six month timeline.
“We are saying that there should be no extension of those powers, unless it is for a very short time limited period and subject to parliamentary approval,” Mr O’Brien said.
“There are a number of issues with the draft bill that we have got.”
It comes after federal government ministers made a pointed intervention on Tuesday, with Josh Frydenberg saying he shared the concerns of Victorians as he demanded the state government explain its decision.
“We will do everything to support Victorians get to the other side of this crisis, but the Victorian government has a lot of questions to answer,” the Treasurer said.
Former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said he had received “a deluge of emails from concerned constituents” and called for Mr Andrews to better explain his plan.
Concerns had been raised that the unprecedented move would give the Premier and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton the ongoing power to impose restrictions, including to wear masks or to stay at home, without the need for parliament’s approval until September 2021.
A new poll of more than 1000 Victorians by the Institute of Public Affairs found 60 per cent of respondents wanted parliament to sit throughout the pandemic.
IPA director of research Daniel Wild said the survey showed Victorians expected the rules and regulations of the government and Prof Sutton to go through the normal democratic process.
“The state of emergency powers must end. It is more important than usual at an extraordinary time like this that politicians are transparent and accountable to Victorians via parliament,” he said.
Amid backlash toward the proposal, the Premier on Tuesday said there was no option but to live with COVID-19 rules before a vaccine was found.
“Unless we have a legal framework that sits behind that, then we won’t be able to say to a publican, ‘you can have 50 people in your pub’,” he said.
“We won’t be able to say to a big – and, for the purposes of COVID-19, a dangerous – workplace, ‘you can stay open, but you will need to have a series of rules, plans and processes to make sure that you’re keeping your staff and the community safe’.
“All of those things come from the state of emergency. It will not be in place a day longer than it needs to be.”
Prof Sutton said if the state of emergency did not exist, he could no longer order the quarantine of returned travellers, including people on cruise ships.
Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox said the plan would kill Victorian businesses. “Extending emergency powers for 12 months would be an admission of failure,” he said. “We’d be seeing tumbleweeds down Collins St before the year was out. Any longer than a few months and the shutters will be drawn permanently on many businesses.”
Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge hit out at the extension bid, saying it had “scared” Victorians.
FORMER TOP BUREAUCRAT WARNS AGAINST EMERGENCY EXTENSION
A former top-ranking parliamentary bureaucrat has warned of moves to extend Victoria’s state of emergency and called for parliament to resume regular sittings.
Wayne Tunnecliffe was Legislative Council Clerk between 1999 and 2015, ending a 48-year career in Victoria’s parliamentary service.
He has warned that moves to extend the state of emergency “has significant ramifications for the centralising of power in the hands of the executive”.
In a social media post overnight Mr Tunnecliffe, who was awarded a Public Service Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last year, said the proposal needed proper and careful consideration.
Mr Tunnecliffe also called for parliament to resume regular sittings.
“It is not good enough for the Chief Health Officer, an unelected bureaucrat, to simply say it should not sit,” he said.
“At least the Upper House has recently seen fit to defy that edict.
“If ever parliament should sit it has been this year so that government decisions can be properly explained and scrutinised.
“That is what parliament is for under the Westminster system.”
URGENT REVIEW OF DRAFT LEGISTATION RECOMMENDED
The state opposition has called for an urgent meeting of the parliament’s scrutiny committee to review draft legislation to extend Victoria’s State of Emergency.
Shadow Attorney-General Ed O’Donohue has called for the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations committee _ an all-party joint house group _ to urgently examine an exposure draft Bill released this week.
The committee generally examines Bills after they are introduced into the Parliament.
But Mr O’Donohue said the urgent nature of the State of Emergency Bill meant it needed to be scrutinised before it was rushed through parliament.
He is written to the committee’s chair, Labor MP Mark Gepp, requesting the committee meet.
“Never before has a Victorian Premier asked for so much power to be transferred from the parliament to the executive,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“Before his request is considered, the risks and consequences for the rights of Victorians must be fully understood.”
PM RAISED CONCERNS WITH PREMIER
Fears of an extended lockdown has prompted a warning from Scott Morrison.
The Prime Minister on Wednesday said he had raised concerns with the Victorian Premier directly and had asked him to be clear with the Victorian public about what the changes would mean.
“I’ve raised our concerns with the Premier about that. I did that directly,” Mr Morrison said.
“I think it’s important to dispel any uncertainty and get clarity around that issue or concern that the lockdowns would extend for another 12 months.
“We received many calls through offices right across Victoria including in my office as well.
“There was great concern about that.”
Mr Morrison denied taking aim at Mr Andrews and his government’s coronavirus response at parliament on Tuesday and said there was no fracturing of national cabinet unity.
But he said failings in Victoria’s testing and tracing capabilities and flawed hotel quarantine procedures were “significantly, overwhelmingly, almost entirely” to blame for the second wave of cases.
“We can’t ignore the facts of what has happened in Victoria and I don’t believe the Victorian Premer is ignoring it either,” Mr Morrison said.
“That’s why we’re working together to deal with the consequences of what has occurred in Victoria.”
The state government will need the support of the crossbench to pass the bill, with opposition leader Michael O’Brien refusing to support it.
But it is not yet clear how many crossbench votes the government will need, with arrangements for next week’s sitting still being organised.
Regional and country MPs have been advised not to attend parliament, with a bipartisan working group planning how the sitting can proceed.
A new poll of more than 1000 Victorians by the Institute of Public Affairs found 60 per cent of respondents wanted parliament to sit throughout the pandemic. IPA director of research Daniel Wild said the survey showed Victorians expected the rules and regulations of the government and Prof Sutton to go through the normal democratic process.
“The state of emergency powers must end. It is more important than usual at an extraordinary time like this that politicians are transparent and accountable to Victorians via parliament,” he said.
Mr Andrews on Tuesday refused to outline a contingency plan in the event he couldn’t push the bill through. “We negotiate in good faith with each and every member of the cross bench, and that won’t change on this matter or any other matter,” he said.
Amid backlash toward the proposal, the Premier said there was no option but to live with COVID-19 rules before a vaccine was found.
“Unless we have a legal framework that sits behind that, then we won’t be able to say to a publican, ‘you can have 50 people in your pub’,” he said. “We won’t be able to say to a big – and, for the purposes of COVID-19, a dangerous – workplace, ‘you can stay open, but you will need to have a series of rules, plans and processes to make sure that you’re keeping your staff and the community safe’.
“All of those things come from the state of emergency. It will not be in place a day longer than it needs to be.” Prof Sutton said if the state of emergency did not exist, he could no longer order the quarantine of returned travellers, including people on cruise ships.
Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox said the plan would kill Victorian businesses. “Extending emergency powers for 12 months would be an admission of failure,” he said.
“We’d be seeing tumbleweeds down Collins St before the year was out. Any longer than a few months and the shutters will be drawn permanently on many businesses.”
Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge hit out at the extension bid, saying it had “scared” Victorians.
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