By James Massola, Tom McIlroy and Fergus Hunter
A Turnbull government plan to quietly ratify the China-Australia extradition treaty has collapsed, with mounting opposition from the Coalition backbench and Labor's decision to oppose the treaty causing the government to withdraw it from Parliament.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten rang Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday morning at 8.40am to inform him Labor's shadow cabinet had decided on Monday night it would not support ratification of the extradition treaty.
At 8.50am, Mr Turnbull rang Mr Shorten and told him he would pull the treaty, a humiliating backdown for the Prime Minister that comes just days after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Australia.
The decision has forced the Turnbull government into damage control, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirming the government had pulled the treaty for now and that she would pursue an agreement from the ALP over the deal in the future.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce makes a pitch for the extradition treaty with China at Parliament House.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"It is in Australia's national interest to ensure that we can send back to China those that have committed crimes, subject to the significant safeguards we have in place. I have faith in our legal and political system to ensure those safeguard would work," she said.
When Mr Shorten formally advised the Prime Minister of Labor's opposition, "we decided that the best thing in those circumstances was to repeal the treaty regulations and continue the discussions with Labor".
Ms Bishop said the treaty was important to facilitate counter-terrorism co-operation and co-operation between police agencies tackling the drug trade. She said the treaty was linked to a prisoner transfer deal also struck back in 2007.
"Clearly the whole idea of foreign policy is to engage with other countries on the basis of trust... China has asked us to hold up our end of the deal," she said.
Senator Cory Bernardi wants the Senate to disallow the China extradition agreement Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"Australia has extradition treaties with 39 countries, they are all entered in to because it is in our interest to do so."
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said: "We believe early entry into force of this extradition treaty will provide institutional guarantees to combat transnational crimes.
"It serves the needs of both sides. We hope the Australian side can bear in mind the long-term development of bilateral relations."
Labor's decision not to ratify the treaty effectively ensured it would be disallowed in the Senate by a combination of their 26 votes, the nine Greens, the three members of Nick Xenophon Team and Senator Cory Bernardi.
The Prime Minister's decision to pull the treaty and avoid defeat in the Parliament is embarrassing for Ms Bishop, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Trade Minister Steve Ciobo, who all publicly defended the deal on Tuesday morning before the Prime Minister and his leadership group decided to reverse course.
Ms Bishop insisted the decision had not been a "captain's call" and pointed out it had been Liberal Party policy to ratify the treaty since John Howard first signed it in 2007.
Fairfax Media revealed on Monday evening that Ms Bishop and Justice Minister Michael Keenan had stepped in to quell a backbench revolt over the looming ratification of the extradition deal, which had been signed under the Howard government in 2007 but has not come into effect.
Ms Bishop confirmed she had heard concerns at the meeting about the treaty but added: "I don't recall any of those now raising concerns raising concerns during the treaty-making process".
Before the decision to drop the treaty, Ms Bishop said she disagreed with Mr Abbott's criticisms and spruiked the safeguards contained in the treaty.
The Foreign Minister said Australia could block extraditions if the person might be executed, subjected to inhumane treatment or receive an unfair trial.
Mr Joyce warned it would be foolish of the Senate crossbench and Labor to kill the agreement, which was signed by the Howard government 10 years ago but not ratified, but conceded Coalition MPs also had concerns.
"If you go out and make some grand statement in the Senate today, it's just foolishness and I can't believe, to be honest, that the Labor Party is going to participate in this," he said.
Trade Minister Steve Ciobo warned the collapse of the treaty could affect three Crown Resorts employees being held in China. It is not clear how this could be the case, given the men are in China and being held by law enforcement officials.
Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said her party took very seriously the extradition treaty with the People's Republic of China and "we remain deeply committed to the bilateral relationship".
"We appreciate the Chinese government was very clear about wanting this treaty to be ratified at this stage, however, we believe that the dissenting report of the Labor members on the [Joint Standing Committee on Treaties] which was tabled some time ago, expresses a very sensible position and that is: the Extradition Act, the domestic legislation governing extradition treaties needs to be properly review," she said.
Senator Bernardi, who announced last week he would attempt to disallow the treaty, said he had serious concerns about China's legal process remained.
"They have 1.2 million convictions every year and only 1000 people manage to receive clearance from the court system over there," he told ABC radio.
"It's a 99.99 per cent conviction rate - I don't know anyone that really thinks that's transparency or justice as we know it."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended the deal on Monday, arguing "very considerable protections" in the treaty protected human rights.