Liberal senators indicated they would not support ratification of the treaty, with Cory Bernardi, the Greens and Labor also opposed

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Turnbull government has pulled a proposed extradition treaty with China after a revolt inside Coalition ranks.

On Tuesday, Labor, the Greens and the former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi lined up in support of a disallowance motion to scuttle the proposed treaty with China, and a handful of Liberal senators telegraphed their opposition to the deal.

The former prime minister Tony Abbott also intervened publicly to argue the treaty should not proceed.

“In my judgment, China’s legal system has to evolve further before the Australian government and people could be confident that those before it would receive justice according to law,” Abbott told the Australian on Tuesday.

Before the controversy rolled into the regular party room meeting of government MPs on Tuesday morning, Turnbull called the opposition leader Bill Shorten to inform him the government would not proceed with the extradition treaty.

Turnbull’s abrupt scuttling of the deal caught colleagues on the hop. A number of frontbenchers, including the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, and the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, had been out defending the extradition treaty in early morning interviews.

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Tuesday’s developments will not please the Chinese government, which signed a beef export deal with Australia during the visit to Canberra last week by the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang

On Monday Turnbull described the treaty as an important part of Australia’s co-operation with China on law enforcement. He pointed to a $100m methamphetamine bust as proof of the two countries’ crime-fighting ties.

But Bernardi crafted the disallowance motion to scuttle the extradition treaty, arguing he had concerns about the legal system in China – which he claimed had 99.9% conviction rate.

“That doesn’t strike me as an open and transparent legal system,” he told ABC radio.

On Tuesday, Bernardi queried why the extradition was being brought on for ratification now when it had first been proposed during the Howard era.

The justice minister, Michael Keenan, held meetings with about a dozen backbench MPs on Monday afternoon, telling them why it should go ahead. But Bernardi said that had not alleviated their concerns.

The Greens foreign affairs spokesman, Scott Ludlam, said before Turnbull’s announcement that his party would back the disallowance motion on human rights grounds.

“It’s not the first time we’ve been on the same side as vote with Cory Bernardi, but it would be one of the first,” he said. “We’ve got to put personalities to one side.”