Boats battle: Labor eyes asylum deal

Bill Shorten is considering supporting an amended asylum-seeker bill before switching Labor’s focus to anti-bank laws.

Labor’s caucus is due to meet today at 6pm to consider the cabinet’s position, with some left-wing Labor MPs demanding the opposition support the medivac bill as is, while others call for Labor to abandon it altogether. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Scott Morrison faces the potential loss of two critical votes on the floor of parliament this week, with Bill Shorten considering support for a newly amended version of the medivac asylum-seeker bill before moving swiftly to force a vote on extending parliamentary sitting weeks in response to the banking royal commission.

The Prime Minister will escalate his attack today on Labor’s border protection credentials ­before tomorrow’s return of parliament with a headland national ­security speech in which he will accuse the Opposition Leader of learning nothing from the tragic failures of the past.

“I know what compromise and poorly thought-through change can do to this policy,” Mr Morrison will say in his first address this year to the National Press Club.

“Labor proposes to do both, again. They have learned nothing from their failures. They will ­abolish regional processing as we know it. Our plan is simple. We won’t change it. Labor will.”

Mr Shorten will seek to bring a swift end to debate over border protection with the possibility that a vote could be brought on as early as tomorrow afternoon. Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo will brief the Labor leader this morning on the implications of the medivac bill before a shadow cabinet meeting to consider any changes to Labor’s position and potential amendments that could strengthen ministerial discretion.

Labor’s caucus is due to meet today at 6pm to consider the cabinet’s position, with some left-wing Labor MPs demanding the opposition support the medivac bill as is, while others call for Labor to abandon it altogether.

It is now likely Labor will draft its own amendments to those that passed in the Senate last year that sought to supplant departmental and ministerial discretion over medical transfers of asylum-seekers and refugees to Australia with an independent panel of doctors. But last night Mr Morrison was defiant, declaring: “This bill is completely unnecessary,” he said. “If anything, it takes border protection backwards.”

In what is shaping as a ­potential turning point in pre-election positioning by both major parties, Mr Shorten will seek to move as early as Wednesday for a vote in the house on ­extending parliamentary sitting weeks so anti-bank legislation can be passed in response to the 76 recommendations of the royal commission. The move could be potentially passed with the support of the full crossbench as the government seeks to fend off any attempts to extend parliament ­beyond the two weeks scheduled before the April 2 budget.

The Law Council of Australia, however, will side with the government today, having warned against calls for extra parliamentary sitting weeks for fear a rush to legislate could have unintended consequences. “Confusing, convoluted and inaccessible laws have already let down the Australian people. We must take the time to get this right,” Law Council President Arthur Moses said.

In the strongest sign yet that Labor is preparing to modify its position on the medical transfers bill, ­opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann said Labor had “great respect” for the assessments of the security agencies, and would ensure the minister retained the “final” say over who came to Australia.

“Labor has always had two clear objectives: making sure sick people can get medical care, and making sure the minister has final discretion over medical transfers,” he said.

But the government continued yesterday to stare down the possibility of a defeat on the bill, saying Labor would own the consequences if it failed to change its position.

“If Bill Shorten wants to pass this legislation, Shorten’s law will weaken border protection in Australia, there’ll be more people-smuggling boats arriving, we’ll have to reopen Christmas Island — that’ll cost $1.4 billion to do,” Leader of the House Christopher Pyne said. “So it’s back to those hideous days where there were 50,000 unauthorised arrivals on 800 boats, and at least 1200 deaths at sea — that’s Labor’s policy and they want to re-implement it.”

There is growing nervousness within Labor that the medivac bill will leave the party exposed to a pre-election attack on border protection. One senior right-winger said “children” on Labor’s frontbench and within the caucus needed to grow up and face the ­reality that they could soon be in government.

“The children in our party who believe in fairytales have to be stopped. National security is just too important to be allowed to be run by children,” the source said. “We have got to ensure the minister retains the unequivocal discretion to override the doctors.”

Confidential security advice revealed by The Australian last week, which has since been declassified, warned the medivac bill passed by the Senate with Labor support risked dismantling the “third pillar” of the nation’s border-protection architecture. It is understood the dominant view on the Right of the Labor Party is that the advice of ASIO and Home ­Affairs is credible and must be heeded.

A Labor Right MP said it would be better for the opposition to act like it was ready to govern rather than score political points by forcing Scott Morrison into an embarrassing defeat on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Additional Reporting: Greg Brown