Western Victorian MP questions oversight of government
Andrew Thomson
24 April 2020
As the number of fresh coronavirus cases in Victoria continues to drop, new emergency laws to combat the disease and its effects in the state have been given the green light.
The legislation cleared state parliament on Thursday evening during an emergency sitting, in which limited MPs were permitted in the chamber.
The government now plans to borrow $24.5 billion to help the state combat the economic carnage from the virus.
The mammoth COVID-19 omnibus also includes temporary changes, including the introduction of judge-alone criminal trials, virtual meetings for state and council politicians, WorkCover extensions and a ban on evictions and rent increases, with a sunset clause of six months.
As well, the Victorian government has set up a dedicated taskforce to help keep the state's building and development industry running through the crisis.
It has approved four new projects worth more than $1.5 billion.
Planning Minister Richard Wynne and Treasurer Tim Pallas will oversee the Building Victoria's Recovery Taskforce.
The state government's omnibus bill passed with the support of the coalition, despite Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien's concerns it grants unprecedented powers to the justice system.
He has also called for greater scrutiny of the government's response to the pandemic, which is being overseen by the Labor-chaired Public Accounts and Estimates Committee.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he was confident in the committee, which will have equal numbers of government and non-government members following the appointment of Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick on Thursday.
Western Victorian Upper House MP Bev McArthur was critical of fellow parliamentarians for voting down the opposition's amendment to COVID-19 Omnibus Bill 2020 which would have allowed for more scrutiny of the Victorian Government's response to the pandemic.
She was in particular critical of Western Victoria MP Andy Meddick and Eastern Victoria MP Jeff Bourman.
Mrs McArthur said 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.
She said that 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, she added.
Mrs McArthur said the Federal Parliament's Senate Select Committee inquiry into COVID-19 is chaired by the Labor Opposition and is not controlled by the government.
She said that on the other hand, the State Government, with the assistance of Mr Bourman and Mr Meddick were determined to ensure that the Victorian Government's response went unscrutinised.
"Jeff Bourman claims to be a representative of shooters, fishers and farmers," Mrs McArthur said.
"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," Mrs McArthur said.