The Andrews Government has finally secured the passage of its controversial pandemic powers bill after successfully prying away a crossbench MP earlier in the week.
The Andrews Government’s controversial pandemic powers are set to be the first standalone pandemic laws in Australia after the bill finally passed the Victorian Parliament.
The Pandemic Management Bill passed the upper house on Thursday 20-18 after a mammoth 21-hour debate on Tuesday night over recently added amendments.
The bill was then quickly passed in the Labor-majority lower house on Wednesday night before heading back for the final vote on Thursday morning.
The legislation will now be finalised in Parliament before heading to the Governor to be officially passed into law.
It will come into effect on December 16.
The legislation will strip the power to declare a pandemic from the Chief Health Officer and be transferred to the Premier who will have the authority to extend it in three-month blocks.
The Health Minister will also be given broad-ranging abilities to declare “any order” which was not limited in scope in the legislation.
The controversial powers were first introduced into Parliament in October after the government consulted with only three upper house MPs – The Greens’ Samantha Ratnam, Fiona Patten from the Reason Party and Animal Justice’s Andy Meddick.
The landmark victory for Premier Daniel Andrews came after he secured the support from Transport Matters MP Rod Barton on Tuesday after more than a week of negotiating with upper house crossbenchers.
The deal struck between Mr Barton and the Government came with six changes to the bill.
The most significant amendment to the new powers was the establishment of an independent panel which would review all detention orders.
The amendments also included the provision of a new Parliamentary joint committee to review pandemic orders which will be given the authority to make disallowance motions, but these would need to be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
Shadow Attorney-General Matt Bach said despite the introduction of a bi-partisan committee to review pandemic orders there was still “no effective Parliamentary oversight”.
“The Labor Government’s most recent rushed amendments to its pandemic lockdown laws go nowhere near far enough,” Mr Bach told SkyNews.com.au on Wednesday.
“The Premier (Daniel Andrews) would still have huge power to lock Victoria down again.”
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass had previously expressed her doubts with the bill particularly around the lack of an independent review process for the pandemic orders.
But after the government unveiled the new amendments on Tuesday, Ms Glass said the new bill was a “significant improvement”.
“The government, I’m pleased to say, has now listened to the concerns I was expressing, particularly about independent oversight and independent review,” she told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.
The Andrews Government had all but sealed legislative Victory in November with the support of the Greens, Animal Justice and the Reason Party.
But in an eleventh-hour shock, former Labor cabinet minister returned to Parliament to block the bill, arguing the powers would see Victoria “governed by a despot”.
The bombshell move forced the Andrews Government to delay debate until Parliament resumed sitting this week.
https://news.google.com/__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_YW1w?oc=5
2021-12-02 13:18:45Z
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