Labor is putting pressure on the government to respond to disability advocates and the disability royal commissioner to extend the royal commission inquiry time, and provide stronger privacy protections for potential witnesses, as part of the final sitting week until May.
These are just two issues on a list the government is being asked to address before the sitting week ends and the Senate moves on to estimates, meaning the chamber won’t be sitting to enable laws to pass.
Bipartisanship is expected to be in short supply this week, although after a request from the Greens and the crossbench, the government and opposition have agreed to suspend the sitting between midday and 1.30pm so MPs who wish to attend the March4Justice rally, can. Greens, Labor and crossbench MPs have committed to attend, however Coalition MPs have so far declined. Scott Morrison said he was open to receiving a “private” delegation.
Bill Shorten and Mark Dreyfus have written to Michaelia Cash, as acting attorney general, and the prime minister demanding the government respond to the commission’s request for an 18-month extension.
Last week, Cash said the government was still deciding on the request with an announcement to be made “in due course”.
The Labor pair have also questioned the government’s “inexplicable decision” not to support Green senator Jordon Steele-John’s private senator’s bill, which would introduce stronger privacy protections for those who wished to give evidence to the inquiry.
The letter, which was sent to Morrison and Cash on Friday noted the chair of the commission, Ronald Sackville, had already made the request for more time.
“The absence of these essential privacy protections is undermining the work of the royal commission because many people with disability who would like to make submissions to the disability royal commission do not have confidence that their privacy will be protected,” Dreyfus and Shorten wrote.
“This issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
In introducing his bill to the Senate, Steele-John said a loophole in the privacy law was stopping people from coming forward.
“Right now, the confidentiality of information given to the commission as confidential only remains and is retained as confidential for the life of the royal commission,” he said in his February speech.
“This means that, when the royal commission ends, the confidentiality protection ends. That information can be FoI’d. That information can be given as evidence. This flaw in the law removes people’s confidence in the protection that is needed for them to come forward and tell their stories.”
Without action in the coming sitting week, any changes will have to wait until May, with the Senate not sitting the following week because of estimates. April has been blacked out as a sitting break, leaving 11 May the next earliest date anything could happen – which is also the week of the budget.
Cash has a busy week ahead of her as acting attorney general, with Christian Porter unlikely to return to his parliamentary role until the next sitting.
The government is still hoping it can gain the support of enough crossbenchers to push through its industrial relations omnibus bill, which is still listed for Senate consideration, despite Porter’s absence.
Linda Reynolds and Porter both remain on sick leave. Greg Hunt released a statement on the weekend saying he had been discharged from hospital following treatment for an infection, and would be at parliament on Monday.
