Two Crossbench MPs Vote For No Scrutiny
Western Victoria MP Andy Meddick and Eastern Victoria MP Jeff Bourman tonight voted down the Opposition’s amendment to COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 which would have allowed for proper scrutiny of the Victorian Government’s response to the pandemic.
The amendment would have established a new sub-committee of the Public Accounts and Estimate Committee for the purposes of inquiring into, considering and reporting to the Parliament about the COVID-19 response, with a majority of members required to not be Labor Government members.
Interstate and overseas parliaments have established non-government committees to oversee government pandemic response. This is to ensure that democracy, transparency and accountability remains firm during a time of crisis.
The Federal Parliament’s Senate Select Committee inquiry into COVID-19 is chaired by the Labor Opposition and is not controlled by the government.
On the other hand, the Andrews Labor Government with the assistance of Jeff Bourman MP and Andy Meddick MP are determined to ensure that the Victorian Government’s response goes unscrutinised.
Quotes attributable to Bev McArthur MP:
“Jeff Bourman claims to be a representative of shooters, fishers and farmers. With the Labor Government’s ban on the sale of firearms and ban on recreational fishing in their pandemic response, choosing to vote against cross-party oversight is a total abandonment of his voters.”
“Mr Meddick has yet again proved himself to just be a number for the Labor Government.”
“It was however encouraging to see the other nine crossbench MPs support the Coalition amendment to provide a necessary forensic level of scrutiny.”
“While governments across the world are allowing democracy to endure amidst the pandemic, Dictator Dan and his politburo Crisis Cabinet is determined to shut down parliament and prevent any scrutiny as he plunges the state into further debt and erodes all freedom.”
“We should always be wary of unaccountable governments with unprecedented emergency powers.”
23 April 2020