Bill Shorten has made a serious blunder that risks Labor’s election ascendancy. Shorten should cut his losses, admit Labor’s folly and abandon his support for the bill, already passed in the Senate, that undermines executive government control of Australia’s borders.
Shorten is not just backing this policy. He seeks to force the minority Morrison government into implementing this weakening of border protection. It would mean in coming weeks the entry of people into Australia from Manus and Nauru against the wishes of the executive government.
This would be an extraordinary event. It would be evidence of irresponsibility by the parliament and by Shorten as alternate PM. There would be a dramatic impact upon public opinion with highly publicised people arrivals in defiance of government policy.
Labor’s position is wrong for two reasons. As a principle the parliament should not seek to override the executive government on this power and, second, it was the Australian government that put these people in the offshore centres and it should be the sole responsibility of the Australian government to remove them — not doctors. This proposal is fundamentally wrong. The proposed law is bad — in essence and in detail.
It constitutes a shocking misjudgment by the medical profession that makes itself the final decision-making agent in a weakening of the nation’s borders.
The idea that Labor will win politically from such a showdown over border protection with new laws that could bring people into Australia throughout the campaign until election day is a large and totally unnecessary gamble by Shorten.
The ALP leader signalled yesterday he would take the government’s briefing offer and said he wanted to find a “middle ground”. In truth, Labor has overreached; the only middle ground is a Labor retreat.
It doesn’t matter how many Labor shadow ministers declare the minister retains discretion or that borders are safeguarded; such assurances are worthless. You only need to read the legislation. This is a fundamental policy change under the guise of humanitarianism.
Independent Kerryn Phelps leaves nobody in doubt — she says the aim is to transfer power to doctors from government bureaucrats, contradicting Labor claims. Under this legislation, border control is being outsourced to doctors. Labor has succumbed to hubris and bad judgment in the belief that public opinion now puts bringing people to Australia from Manus and Nauru ahead of government control of the borders.
The Greens and independents are cheering as they head towards blasting a hole in border protection under the name of humanitarianism. Labor has positioned itself against the Australian Government Solicitor’s legal opinion and against security advice from ASIO and the Australian Border Force Security.
Attorney-General Christian Porter told The Australian this week: “The Labor advice is wrong. The amendments supported by Bill Shorten would drastically limit ministerial discretion on the question of who should come to Australia from an offshore facility. The amendments would leave that decision essentially in the hands of two doctors who do not even need to determine that someone is actually ill, merely that someone should come to Australia for further assessment.”
The legislation is a sham. The doctors don’t have to be in Nauru or Manus. They could be in Perth or Hobart talking on a screen. They don’t have to examine the patient in person. Doctor shopping would be easy — only two are needed. There is no limit on the number of findings by a single doctor. The minister has only 24 hours to dispute findings by two doctors. If nothing is done then transfer is automatic.
If the minister objects on medical grounds the issue goes to a panel of doctors and, if they say transfer must occur, the only ground on which the minister can veto is a narrow definition of national security.
No responsible government could accept such a law.
None of this is to say the government has clean hands. It doesn’t. The Coalition’s failures over Nauru and Manus are immense. The people should have been removed long ago. Despite the deal with Donald Trump the government has been inept in negotiating arrangements with third countries to evacuate people from the offshore centres.
Aware of this failure and changing public opinion the government has run a de facto policy; it has been bringing people and children to Australia under cover of medical concerns. This is the real justification for the proposed new laws. Yet even the government’s manifest failure cannot justify these laws — and that is the ultimate point.
The reality is Shorten doesn’t need a briefing. As this newspaper pointed out in December, this is bad law and flawed process and would allow the rapid entry of many people from the offshore centres in a short time. Labor has been playing politics in the guise of humanitarian concerns. Its tactics are cynical.
Shorten will be extremely reluctant to back down without a face-saving gain. Scott Morrison said yesterday the bill was acceptable “in no form”. What concession might Morrison give Shorten? The answer should be very little.
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