Labor will give ground in a long fight with Prime Minister Scott Morrison over draft laws to deport convicted criminals after days of political claims in Parliament that the Opposition was weak on crime.
“Labor will not oppose this bill in the House of Representatives,” Labor home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally confirmed on Wednesday morning.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese have told their MPs to get ready for the coming campaign.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Labor leader Anthony Albanese and senior frontbenchers decided on Wednesday morning to abandon a position taken last year when the party opposed the government bill in part because it would inflame relations with New Zealand.
A key part of the government bill gives the immigration minister more power under the character test in existing law to deport people who have been convicted of a crime, expanding a policy the New Zealand government has criticised for years.
Senator Keneally argued the government had amended its bill before Christmas to acknowledge some of the concerns made by Labor over many years and that this cleared the way for Labor to allow the bill to go through the House.
“We’re hopeful that they will continue to work with us on some of the other unintended consequences that we have concerns about,” Senator Keneally told Sky News on Wednesday morning.
But Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews insisted the government would not amend the bill and would demand Labor pass the package on the government’s terms.
The passage of the bill through the lower house sets up a likely Senate inquiry or protracted vote in the upper house that could delay a final outcome until after the election, depending on the time available for debate when Parliament meets for the March 29 budget.
“Let’s call a spade a shovel here, I think everyone in the country can see what’s happening – this is a desperate government, desperate to distract from its own incompetence, the crisis in aged care and the fact that wages are flat-lining and costs are going up,” Senator Keneally said.
“They need to decide: do they want to have a fight or do they want to have a fix? If there is a problem they want fixed, our door remains open and this can be resolved.”
Asked on Sky News if she had been wedged on the issue because the government would not agree to any Labor amendments, Senator Keneally said the government had already flagged its own amendments to address concerns raised last year.
“We understand that the bill will need to be amended by the government based on what Alex Hawke said yesterday,” Senator Keneally said.
“If he is suddenly concerned about Section 116 and 117, an issue he has never raised with me previously… and indeed hasn’t been ventilated in three Senate inquiries, and if this is an issue the government wants to fix, they need to put forward their amendments and come and talk to us.”
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