Coronavirus: Greens help Daniel Andrews jag extra six months’ emergency powers

The Andrews government’s bid to extend its state of emergency powers for six months was set to pass Victoria’s upper house late on Tuesday night.

Victorian Greens MP Samantha Ratnam. Picture: Mark Stewart

The Andrews government’s bid to extend its state of emergency powers for six months was set to pass Victoria’s upper house late on Tuesday night, with last-­minute help from the Greens, despite vocal opposition from Coalition MPs and the majority of the crossbench.

In a move criticised by Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien as giving Premier Daniel Andrews “a blank cheque”, Greens MP Samantha Ratnam returned to parliament from maternity leave to join crossbench colleagues Reason Party MP Fiona Patten and Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick and vote in favour of the bill.

The move came after Ms Patten and the Greens made it clear they would not support the 12 months Labor was originally requesting, and as the Coalition proposed an amendment that would have forced Mr Andrews to return to parliament each month to have the powers extended.

Labor holds 17 seats in the 40-member upper house, the crossbench 12 and the Coalition 11.

Ms Ratnam said while coronavirus restrictions were hurting vulnerable Victorians, the state of emergency extension was required to enable the Chief Health Officer to contain what were 2519 active cases in the state on Tuesday. “I will vote for this bill on the condition that it is only for six months, and that the Health Minister is required to make health advice publicly available every four weeks to be transparent with the community,” she said.

Mr O’Brien said the powers were “so extreme” and intrusive that they should only be renewed month by month. “I think Victorians will be watching how Labor votes, how the Greens vote, and how independents and micro parties vote,” he said. “ A lot of them talked about accountability, some of them talk about civil liberties, but it seems like some of those parties are more interested in giving Daniel Andrews a red carpet rather than holding up a red card to his grab for more power.”

As Victoria recorded its lowest number of new coronavirus infections since July 3, with 70 cases in the 24 hours to Tuesday, leading business groups said a “traffic light” road map to kickstart the economy could be rolled out nat­ionally if it proved effective, as the state government determines which businesses can reopen without tough restrictions.

After two days of stakeholder meetings with Victorian Industry Minister Martin Pakula, Australian Industry Group’s Victorian head Tim Piper said many sectors should be able to open under the state government’s proposal to be announced on Sunday.

Industries will be closed (red traffic light), heavily restricted (orange), restricted (yellow) or open with a COVID-safe plan (green).

The government wants all businesses to do six things to keep COVID-safe: physical distancing, wearing masks, practising good hygiene, acting quickly if staff become unwell, avoiding interactions in enclosed spaces and creating workforce bubbles. That means Victorians will be asked to work from home if possible, there will be no carpooling, meetings will be held outside and staff numbers across multiple sites should be reduced.

“If the traffic light approach works, maybe that can be invoked by other states. It’s a suck it and see with so many of these things,” Mr Piper said.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said more detail was needed. “We’ve got to learn to live with COVID and get the borders open as soon as we can — there will need to be commonality across the states in the future.”