Terri Butler warns of consequences with party members if Labor walks away from medivac bill

Frontbencher Terri Butler warns of serious consequences if Labor walks away from the Kerryn Phelps-inspired bill.

Terri Butler in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor frontbencher Terri Butler has warned the party would face the wrath from branch members if it walked away from the Kerryn Phelps-inspired bill that would put medical transfers of asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru into the hands of doctors.

Ms Butler, an MP from the Queensland Left, has fired a warning shot to her colleagues who want Labor’s support for the bill junked altogether, saying it was “important” it passed through the parliament.

Ms Butler told The Australian she would support amendments to give greater ministerial oversight over transfers as long as it secured the bill’s passage through the parliament.

“I think we should negotiate whatever outcome is needed for the bill to be passed,” Ms Butler said.

She said Labor members expected the party to support the bill that will come before the House of Representatives this week.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten.

Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen says Bill Shorten is ready to have “further discussions” on the medical transfer of refugees after his briefing by top security officials today.

Labor’s parliamentary caucus will meet later today to decide their next steps over the controversial Phelps amendments, with some opposition MPs wanting Mr Shorten to abandon the medivac plan altogether.

Mr Bowen said the Opposition Leader will take his briefing by the Department of Home Affairs into account. The briefing comes after leaked ASIO advice last week stated the medivac bill would ultimately dismantle offshore processing.

“If there’s further discussions to be had with crossbench colleagues and others across the parliament in terms of ensuring those two objectives are met, then he’ll have those,” Mr Bowen said in Canberra.

“The Leader of the Opposition is having a briefing, he’ll take into account that briefing.

“We want to see people who are unwell receive best care, including in Australia and we want to see ministerial discretion, which is a fundamental principle, applied.”

Some Labor MPs will push for the bill to be passed as it currently stands. Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said today the status quo for refugees is “untenable” and the Coalition were “undermining our national security”.

“The status quo at the moment whereby you have ministers that people will be transferred on masse, i.e. because there are medical issues, surely that’s an acknowledgment by the government that the current situation is simply untenable,” he told ABC radio.

“This government is undermining our national security with some of their rhetoric.”

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he would “wait and see” to see Mr Shorten’s post-briefing decision on the amendments, but he expected internal Labor divisions to complicate any attempt to backtrack from medivacs.

“That’s not what Anthony Albanese was saying this morning on the ABC. This is a remarkable circumstance at the moment ... There is, beneath the surface, a lot happening within the Labor Party,” he told Sky News.

“What amendments Bill Shorten can get agreed by Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek, it’s unknown. There’s obviously a lot of internal ruption ... people aren’t happy with what’s Bill Shorten has done here.

“He’s made a mistake, he hasn’t yet owned up to it. Let’s wait and see what he has to say.”

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.”

Mr Albanese would not answer questions on that Labor MP’s comments, but told ABC radio he would advocate the party to not be “weak on humanity” in today’s caucus meeting.

“I’ll be having those discussions in our processes that take place today … but I’ll be bringing my values which are that you can be tough on border security, without being weak on humanity.

“If we need to tweak the legislation, by all means let’s have those discussions.”

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann. Picture: Kym Smith

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said there will be no compromise over the medical transfer of refugees and Mr Shorten should back down after he receives his security briefing.

The Opposition Leader is considering support for a newly amended version of the medivac asylum-seeker bill. But Senator Cormann today rejected Labor’s calls for consensus on the controversial amendments, and reiterated the government’s view the bill would lead to the arrival of asylum seeker boats.

“Absolutely not … there is no need for a compromise,” he said in Canberra today.

“Our border protection arrangements are working well, there is no need to weaken our border protection policies.

“Bill Shorten, on having received the security briefing, should step back from his reckless decision before Christmas to weaken our border protection policies.”

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.

Senator Cormann’s comments echo Scott Morrison’s planned address later today at the National Press Club in Canberra, where the Prime Minister will escalate his attack on Labor’s border protection credentials ­before tomorrow’s return of parliament.

“I know what compromise and poorly thought-through change can do to this policy,” Mr Morrison will say.