Scott Morrison rebuffs claims of asylum deal

Scott Morrison has refused to ­detail Jacqui Lambie’s demands for supporting the repeal of medivac.

The Prime Minister dismissed any suggestion of a deal with Jacqui Lambie on ­Wednesday. Picture: Kym Smith

Scott Morrison has refused to ­detail Jacqui Lambie’s demands for supporting the repeal of the contentious Labor-backed medivac laws, a move that delivered the government a critical political victory amid claims of a “secret deal”.

The 184 refugees and asylum-seekers who have been trans-ferred to Australia for medical treatment under the medivac ­regime are now eligible to be ­returned to offshore facilities, pending medical assessment.

READ MORE: The Sketch: Script scrubbed of answers to ‘deal or no deal’ | Tearful Jacqui Lambie votes for medivac repeal

But there are expectations from within the government that the transferees will “lawyer up” and lodge court injunctions to stop any removals.

The Prime Minister dismissed any suggestion of a deal on ­Wednesday, declaring that the “only undertaking” his government gave Senator Lambie was to implement the Coalition’s policies.

He met Senator Lambie twice in the past two weeks, and the crossbencher was given extensive briefings from senior officials on Operation Sovereign Borders and the medivac laws.

Jacqui Lambie in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

The repeal, which passed the Senate 37-35, comes nearly a year after the laws were forced upon the Coalition when Mr Morrison governed with a minority in the House of Representatives.

An emotional Senator Lambie said she and the government had “worked together really hard” to advance a proposal she put to the Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in ­exchange for her vote to repeal the bill. “I’m not being coy or silly when I say I genuinely can’t say what I proposed,” she said. “I know that’s frustrating to people and I get that. I don’t like holding things back like this but when I say I can’t discuss it publicly due to national security concerns, I am being 100 per cent honest to you.

READ MORE: Jacqui Lambie’s full Senate statement on Medivac repeal

“We’ve worked to an outcome I believe we both want, which is an outcome where our borders are secure, the boats have stopped and sick people aren’t dying while waiting for treatment.

“As a result of that work, I’m more than satisfied that the conditions are now in place to allow medivac to be repealed.’’

The comments triggered claims the government had struck a deal behind closed doors, including a commitment to revisit the New Zealand government’s longstanding offer to accept 150 refugees held by Australia offshore. The government’s Senate leader, Mathias Cormann, rejected the suggestion. “We have not agreed to any change to our policies on border protection, or on resettlement arrangements, or on anything else to secure Jacqui’s support for the medivac repeal bill,” he said.

“Beyond that we don’t comment on private conversations.”

Mr Morrison did not explicitly rule out revisiting the New Zealand offer once the resettlement deal with the US was complete.

“The only undertaking we’ve given is to implement our policies, that’s it,” the Prime Minister said. “The government is always looking at ways in which it can resettle those who are on Nauru and I want to particularly pay credit to the Minister for Home Affairs who has not only got every single child off Nauru … I know who put every single child on Nauru. It was the Labor Party and their failed border-protection policies and it was under our government that we got every single child off.”

A S Y L U M S N A P S H O T

The US has agreed to take up to 1250 refugees from Manus Island and Nauru. Already, 654 are in America and another 251 have provisional approval.

There are 208 asylum-seekers and refugees remaining on Papua New Guinea and 258 on Nauru. With the medivac process abolished, medical transfers will revert to the government’s existing system under section 198B of the Migration Act, which gives Mr Dutton discretion to decide if a person is eligible for treatment.

The election commitment to scrap the medivac regime was seized on by Labor, the Greens, crossbenchers, human rights lawyers and refugee groups as inhumane and dangerous.

The laws, which passed in February with support from Labor, the Greens and some crossbenchers, gave doctors greater powers to refer asylum-seekers on Manus Island and Nauru to Australia for medical treatment. Mr Dutton was able to refuse a transfer on national security grounds or if a potential transferee held a substantial criminal record.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles questioned if the government had “finally agreed to resettle people from Manus and Nauru to New Zealand” and, if not, what deal had been made. Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said she hoped Senator Lambie could live with the deal. “I sincerely hope it is one that does deliver something good for the people in Manus and Nauru,” Senator Keneally said. “And I sincerely hope that the government and you are able to tell the public about it soon.”

Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff, a supporter of the medivac laws, labelled Senator Lambie’s deal with the government “completely heartless”. “The problem with the government and her keeping this secret is (there is) no degree of scrutiny and no certainty that what they are offering her, or have offered her, is valid and will actually happen,” Senator Griff said.