Scott Morrison earns wrath of campaigners by saying states must give their agreement before inquiry can start
Mon 18 Feb 2019 07.59 GMT
Last modified on Mon 18 Feb 2019 08.10 GMT
The Morrison government has waved through a motion calling on it to establish a disability royal commission, but blamed the states for its failure to start the inquiry immediately.
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John responded with fury, accusing the government of a “bare-faced lie” that state sign-off was required and failing to give a clear commitment or timeline for setting up the inquiry.
On the Monday of the last sitting week before the budget in April, the Morrison government averted opposition ambushes by agreeing in-principle to the disability inquiry and surrendering to an internal insurgency by the Nationals, who planned to support Labor amendments for small business access to justice.
Coalition senators voted against or signalled opposition to both measures in the Senate on Thursday, despite Scott Morrison then claiming on Sunday that he never opposed the disability royal commission.
On Monday, Morrison told the House of Representatives that although it would pass the disability motion, the government would need to “work through all the necessary issues to be able to do something positively in this area”.
Morrison noted that when it was considered by the Council of Australian Governments, the states and territories “did not indicate support for a royal commission … So these are hurdles that would have to be addressed”.
Morrison cited the attorney general Christian Porter’s opinion that since disability care was previously run by the states, a royal commission “would require consultation and agreement with the states and likely letters patent from the states”.
Constitutional expert George Williams told Guardian Australia the government does not strictly require letters patent from the states although it may be wise to first seek their cooperation.
Steele-John said Morrison had “failed to say the one thing that we needed to hear from him, which was that he would pick up the phone to state and territory ministers and solicit their report and call the royal commission”.
With Labor states Western Australia and Victoria already pledging their support on Monday, Steele-John said the politics had moved “hugely” since Coag rejected the inquiry.
“Which state premier or minister would oppose this now? Nobody’s going to oppose this.”
Steele-John said the federal government was “covering the backsides” of state governments which would be “on the hook for a lot of bloody money” for redress for systemic abuse.
Bill Shorten told the house he was “very persuaded” of the need for a disability royal commission since it was a recommendation of a Senate inquiry in November 2015 and he noted Labor had advocated for one since May 2017.
“The abuse and mistreatment of people with disability is Australia’s hidden shame,” he said. “We have been on notice about the issues for a very long time.”
“We need to address what is the core reason why people with a disability suffer disproportionate abuse, neglect and violence.
“It’s because, as a nation, despite progress we might have made on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and other things, we still as a nation devalue people with disability.”
On Monday afternoon the House of Representatives passed a treasury bill loaded in the Senate with Labor amendments to allow small businesses to apply in court before launching major legal action to escape paying costs, even if they lose a competition law case against larger rivals.
The measures were supported on Friday by Nationals MPs Barnaby Joyce, Keith Pitt and Andrew Broad – applying an irresistible pressure to the Morrison government to back down or risk losing a second substantive vote on a bill in a week.
Earlier on Monday the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, confirmed the government would support the bill, despite the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, signalling opposition to the small business measures in the Senate on Thursday.
Labor’s shadow assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, said it was a great day for small business but the government had supported the bill “not because [Morrison] believes in it but because he’s a desperate prime minister who is desperate to avoid Nationals crossing the floor against him”.
Joyce took credit for the backdown, telling reporters that the Nationals had been fighting for the measure “for so long”.
“So often you’ve seen farmers in the past have a just position against the major supermarkets but no capacity whatsoever to pay the legal fees that would be required to take it on,” he said.
