Victoria’s shadow Treasurer has declared the passing of the pandemic powers marks a “bad day for democracy”, warning the bill will lead to widespread uncertainty across the state.
Victoria shadow Treasurer David Davis has again vowed the Opposition will repeal the Andrews Government’s now pandemic powers which he said would give “too much power” to the Premier.
The Pandemic Management Bill passed the upper house on Thursday 20-18 votes 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 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.
Mr Davis lashed the process in the last days of Parliament, condemning Labor and the four crossbenchers for attempting to use gag clauses to “close down debate”.
“We again tried to amend it to put more controls and checks and parliamentary oversight,” Mr Davis told Sky News Australia.
“We need those checks, we need the balances… (there is) too much power for the government and too much power for the Premier.
“We fought and fought and fought all the way through but the government with their four Labor-voting independents has forced it through.”
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.
Mr Davis said the passage of the laws amid the emerging Omicron variant sent a concerning message to Victorians.
“We are very concerned about this bill and the signal it sends. It’s a signal the government’s going to use the powers, that’s why they’re taking the powers,” the shadow Treasurer said.
“There’s a risk they’re going to lock people down. This in itself creates business uncertainty; businesses need predictability, they need to know there won’t be more lockdowns and that is the terrible risk.
“It’s a bad day for democracy. We will repeal it.”
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 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.
https://news.google.com/__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_YW1w?oc=5
2021-12-02 09:46:47Z
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