ALP angst over Kristina Keneally’s unilateral decisions on national security

Anthony Albanese bats away questions over Kristina Keneally’s handling of home affairs portfolio.

Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally in the Senate during question time on Thursday. Picture: Kym Smith

Internal Labor rumblings are emerging over Kristina Keneally’s handling of the home affairs portfolio after the senator was accused of unilat­erally breaking bipartisan conventions on national security.

Senator Keneally blindsided her colleagues on Monday night when she dumped an agreement the government claims to have had over a Coalition bill to expand police powers at ­airports. The powers, which Labor ­support­ed, were in response to a terror plot to blow up an Etihad jet in 2017 with a bomb hidden in a meat grinder and the inability of police to conduct identity checks at ­airports.

The bill to expand police powers had the bipartisan support of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and ­Security (PJCIS), of which Senator Ken­eally is a member. However, at the last minute — before a late-night division on the bill on Monday — Senator Keneally switched position to support an amendment from Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick that would put a sunset clause on the laws.

Left to right, Opposition leader Anthony Albanese, former leader Bill Shorten, Richard Marles and Kristina Keneally in a Labor caucus meeting at Parliament House. Picture: Kym Smith

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has played down frontbencher Kristina Keneally’s breaking of a deal with the government on a national security bill, saying Labor ultimately backed the legislation.

Mr Albanese batted away questions on the matter on Friday, pointing to the fact that Labor backed the government bill when it was later recommitted to the Senate.

“Labor supported the legislation. I don’t see that there is anything to see here,” he said.

“What we are talking about here is an amendment that was moved on the floor of the Senate to grandfather clauses which are there. There is nothing that unusual about that.

“And the government itself supported an amendment that was moved by Centre Alliance on the floor of the Senate.”

Senator Keneally said that she spoke with her colleagues before deciding to support amendments on Monday night putting a sunset clause on government legislation giving police expanded powers at airports.

She also said her colleagues were happy with the decision to support the amendment proposed by Centre Alliance and had not raised any concerns with her.

The amendment, which effectively meant the new laws would expire in four years, was removed the following day when the bill was recommitted to the Senate and the government won the vote, exposing Labor to accusations that it had engaged in a political stunt on a critical piece of national security legislation.

Senator Keneally is also ­leading Labor efforts to thwart the repeal of the “Medivac” legislation which handed doctors greater powers to order refugee medical transfers. On Wednesday, she teamed up with the Greens to try to disallow fast-tracking of protection claims for illegal boat arrivals.

The alliance between Labor and the Greens on border-­protection measures, which also included a bid to block the privatisation of visa applications, would have seen up to 4000 asylum seekers who arrived by boat remain in Australia for longer to have their claims assessed. Several Labor MPs said they were concerned that the opposition’s ­bipartisanship on national security was being risked for political advantage.

A colleague of Senator Keneally labelled the move to support the Centre Alliance amendment on Monday “opportunistic” and said it should not have been made on a national security bill. “There is a lot of angst about it,” one said.

“It is one thing about the matter of principle but another issue with the political message it sends on national security.”

Senator Katy Gallagher, left, Senator Kristina Keneally, centre, and Senator Penny Wong, right, in the Senate.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton accused Senator Keneally of dragging the Labor Party to the Left on key border protection measures, telling 2GB on Thursday that she was “completely off the reservation”. “I don’t understand what is going on in the Labor Party at the moment but it’s completely lost the plot,” he said.

The Australian understands that the government chair of the PJCIS, Andrew Hastie, raised the issue of Labor’s support for the Centre Alliance amendment with Senator Keneally during a closed-door meeting ­on Thursday.

“PJCIS reports that are signed off by committee members signal both bipartisan consensus and an agreed course of action across the two major parties,” Mr Hastie said.

Other colleagues backed Sen­ator Keneally, saying it was the government’s fault it had lost a vote and that criticism of her was bordering on “misogyny”.

A Labor source said the government had been advised the ALP would support Centre Alliance’s first amendment for a review of the police powers bill, which the government allowed to pass, but didn’t confirm a position on Centre Alliance’s second amendment for a sunset clause. The source disputed the government’s claim of an agreement.

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese watches Deputy Labor Senate Leader Kristina Keneally during a press conference.

The government was short on numbers when independent conservative senator Cory Bernardi, formerly a Liberal, left the chamber because of illness. Senator Bernardi, whose vote would have thwarter Senator Keneally, said he was of the understanding Labor had agreed to support the laws without amendment.

As home affairs spokeswoman, Senator Keneally has carriage of tactics on bills in her portfolio area. A colleague said that on nat­ional security legislation, she should have notified colleagues about any change in position.

In a statement to The Australian, Senator Keneally said: “What works well with the PJCIS is that we have robust policy debates but emerge with a bipartisan and considered approach to protecting the national interest … It is the case, however, that sometimes the cabinet process results in PJCIS recommendations not being adopted: for example, the encryption bill and the temporary exclusion order legislation both proceeded with the Liberal government deciding not to adopt the bipartisan recommendations of the PJCIS. In both cases, Labor nonetheless supported the government’s bills in the interest of national ­security.”

Senator Bernardi accused Senator Keneally of using a national security bill to leverage political advantage to embarrass the government. “We rely on the integrity of those charged with responsibility in those areas to stick to their word,” he said.

Additional reporting: Ben Packham