PM bows to pressure over refugee medical transfers

Scott Morrison has bowed to demands for an independent medical review panel to vet asylum-seeker transfers.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during the official opening of the Chinese New Year festival at Southbank in Melbourne, on Saturday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has bowed to demands for an independent medical review panel to vet asylum-seeker transfers from regional processing centres to Australian health facilities as the government faces the risk of a historic ­defeat on the floor of parliament next week over Kerryn Phelps’s medivac bill.

The surrender comes amid increasing public concern over the treatment of refugees and threats by Labor, the Greens and crossbenchers to strip the government of decision-making powers over medical transfers.

The Prime Minister only last week warned that should the bill pass with the support of Labor, it would be the first step in dismantling offshore processing and a weakening of border security.

In December, Mr Morrison ­attacked the bill claiming “we ­already have doctors” assisting in the treatment of asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus Island.

With the likelihood the government could lose a vote in the house, Mr Morrison has adopted a key concern of several independents and will establish an independent panel of doctors to review decisions made by the ­department. The Australian has been told the opposition plans to pressure the government over a snap election if it loses a vote on a matter of “vital importance”, which, under parliamentary rules, can constitute a loss of confidence in the government.

Mr Morrison was expected to brief key independent MP Cathy McGowan, whose support would be critical if the government is to avoid being defeated on the bill.

The Australian has confirmed Mr Morrison’s policy went to the National Security Committee of Cabinet but not full Cabinet

It involves the creation of an ­independent Medical Transfer Clinical Assurance Panel, to be chaired by the commonwealth Chief Medical Officer.

It would include a nominee of the chief executive of Foundation House with torture and trauma counselling experience, a nominee of the Australian Medical Association and two nominees of the department’s Chief Medical Officer, one of whom will hold current mental health clinical experience.

The panel, appointed by the Immigration Minister, would be able to review assessments currently undertaken by the department on the medical needs of asylum-seekers. The panel cannot overturn decisions but can refer them to the Department of Home Affairs for reconsideration.

The Coalition, which announced yesterday the final four child asylum seekers on Nauru will be transferred to the US, will argue its model would ensure the government still retained overall oversight of medical transfers, maintaining the current nat­ional ­security architecture.

An inpatient mental health unit is also in the process of being set up in the Pacific International Hospital in Port Moresby for acute cases.

In a letter expected to be sent to Bill Shorten today, and seen by The Australian, Mr Morrison has warned Labor of the dangers of backing a bill that would ­effectively hand border security over to two doctors. “I appreciate that Australians are seeking greater assurance about the healthcare that is being made available to those who continue to live in PNG and Nauru,” Mr Morrison says in the draft letter. “In the context of these issues, I also write to once again urge you to reverse your support for Senate amendments to the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2018 to be considered when Parliament resumes.

“The changes you are now supporting in the amendments from the Senate changes will effectively end offshore processing as a useful component of our border protection regime. The advice from our security agencies is very clear …

“The reason that the amendments passed by the Senate will end offshore processing is simply that they take the final decision of who comes to Australia out of the hands of the elected government of this country. The amendments permit individuals on Nauru and Manus to gain entry to Australia on the say-so of any two doctors in this ­country.”

Mr Morrison offered the Opposition Leader briefings from the Chief of the Defence Force, secretary of Home Affairs and commander of Operation Sovereign Borders on the dangers of the bill.

Dr Phelps, the architect of the bill who claims that her campaigning on the issue helped her win the Wentworth by-election, yesterday welcomed the expected removal of children from Nauru but said the government had to be dragged kicking and screaming.

Dr Phelps, who won Malcolm Turnbull’s former seat from the Liberals in October, said the government was forced into ­action by community pressure.

At present, medical transfers are decisions made by the department’s transitory persons’ committee and the assistant commissioner, Detention and Offshore Operations Co-ordination, which have a delegation to transfer an individual for medical treatment at any time. The panel will provide bi­annual reports to the joint standing committee on migration but has immediate oversight to review decisions by the department.

Mr Shorten said Labor would pursue the issue when parliament returned on February 12.

The vote — which was delayed after stalling tactics were employed in the Senate during the last day of parliamentary sittings last year — looms as a key test for the Morrison minority government.

The House of Representatives practice says there are two ways in which the lower house can withdraw confidence. The first is by a “direct vote of censure of or no confidence in the government” while the second is “by defeat on an issue central to government policy”.

Following defeat on a matter of “vital importance”, a government may then choose to resign. While there has never been a successful vote of no confidence against a government in the House of Representatives, on eight occasions gov­ernments have either resigned or advised a dissolution following their defeat on other questions.

A Labor source said : “If they are defeated on it and Morrison decides to not go to the Governor-General, he would then have to explain why (the bill) is not of vital ­importance”.

Additional reporting: Joe Kelly