Victoria’s pandemic bill in disarray as former minister Adem Somyurek’s opposition delays key vote
The Victorian government’s controversial pandemic bill is in disarray after former minister Adem Somyurek announced he would vote against the legislation in its current form.
The legislation was set to narrowly pass parliament this week with the support of three key crossbenchers, but a Victorian government motion to delay the vote for MPs to consider amendments passed 20 votes to 17 in the upper house on Thursday morning.
This came after Somyurek, who was forced out of the Labor party over a branch stacking scandal, said he would return to parliament to oppose the bill after belatedly proving his vaccination status on Wednesday.
The Coalition voted against the adjournment.
In a piece published in the Herald Sun, Somyurek said the bill could lead to a “tyranny to rule by decree” and did not have enough checks and balances to keep the leader of the day accountable.
“Had I continued to be a member of the Andrews cabinet, I would have argued this bill is a bad idea because it gives too much power to the government,” he wrote.
“Without meaningful parliamentary oversight and independent review mechanisms as Victorians we all risk the prospect of being unjustly governed by a Coalition despot in the future.
“I will not support this bill in its current form, and I would encourage the government to go back to the drawing board and consult more broadly.”
The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been racing to pass the pandemic legislation before the state of emergency is due to lapse on 15 December.
Unlike other states – including New South Wales, which has considered a proposal to extend its emergency powers to March 2023 – the Victorian government’s powers are finite.
The proposed legislation would transfer the power to declare a pandemic from the chief health officer to the premier, and grant the health minister sweeping powers to enact any pandemic orders believed “reasonably necessary” to protect public health.
If the bill fails to pass, the Victorian government may not have the legal framework to enforce and create Covid-19 orders to manage the ongoing pandemic.
Andrews said he engaged with “all members” of the legislative council across a “very diverse chamber” and had no message for any member of the upper house in particular.
“They will work through this bill line by line and we’ll wait to see what the council give us,” he said.
“We don’t have a majority [in the upper house], we will do as we always do engage and I’m confident we’ll get an outcome.
“The exact nature of that outcome, we’ll have to wait and see … hours, days, who knows … we’ll work across the board with anyone who in good faith wants to be part of that process.”
Somyurek’s intervention would see the bill face a deadlocked vote, meaning it would be effectively defeated and could not pass except by the use of obscure parliamentary mechanisms.
Now the vote has been postponed, the government will have to enter critical negotiations with crossbenchers to pass the bill by 15 December.
It was expected to be narrowly pushed through the upper house this week with the support of the Reason party’s Fiona Patten, Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam and Animal Justice party MP Andy Meddick after seven amendments were secured on Monday evening.
Human rights groups have welcomed the amendments but some legal bodies have raised ongoing concerns over aspects of the bill and called for it to be delayed.
The crossbenchers have faced ongoing death threats and abuse in the lead-up to debate over the controversial legislation.
Somyurek said the crossbenchers had effectively become a “far-left faction of the Labor government, but with more clout than the two traditional factions combined”.
“I have been in three Labor governments and never has the caucus and cabinet been sidelined as much as