In the upper house on Thursday, the government succeeded in voting down a Greens motion to set up a cross-party committee to scrutinise the government’s management of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the government opted for the parliamentary public accounts and estimates committee to examine its response. Loading But the opposition and crossbenchers insist that committee is not independent enough. The committee has been expanded to include another crossbench MP, giving it an equal number of government and non-government members, but the Labor chair still has the casting vote. The upper house was set to vote on Thursday on whether the committee should have a non-government chair, which would even up the numbers.

The government's Crisis Council of Cabinet includes Mr Andrews and seven ministers and will operate until at least September 30. Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien accused the government of refusing to submit to cross-party scrutiny of its extensive powers. “We can’t have a situation where Daniel Andrews’ own handpicked Labor committee is marking his homework,” he said. Loading But Mr Andrews insisted the public accounts and estimates committee was best-placed to scrutinise the government’s pandemic response.

“It routinely hears from ministers. It routinely takes evidence from departmental secretaries and we think that’s the appropriate place to do this,” he said. Accountability Roundtable member Ken Coghill said the Victorian Parliament needed a “strong, independent” committee to scrutinise the scope of the bill, which gives extraordinary powers to the government and paves the way for billions of taxpayer dollars to be spent, he said. “Experience shows when there is such huge amounts of money in a short time, there is a great temptation for corruption and we’re already seeing that in the United States.” Australian Lawyers Alliance Victorian president Jeremy King said some of the new powers allowed increased use of solitary confinement in Victorian prisons to suppress the spread of coronavirus. He described the laws as inhumane and said they may breach international law. “The proposed new laws will impose detention conditions that amount to full-time lockdown and isolation for some prisoners,” he said.

A government spokeswoman said these measures were temporary and designed to manage an outbreak in the criminal justice system. “Our priority is the safety of all young people and staff,” the spokeswoman said. “These measures are informed by expert medical advice and outline clear safeguards and support for young people should they be required to isolate.” Criminal Bar Association of Victoria chair Daniel Gurvich, QC, said it was regrettable there was no opportunity for proper consultation or debate before the bill passed. He estimated about one third of the bill focused on criminal justice issues, as wide-ranging from judge-only trials to the placement of prisoners, yet interested parties were given no time for consultation. He only saw a draft of the bill on Thursday, which made it impossible to make a submission. Sign up to our Coronavirus Update newsletter Get our Coronavirus Update newsletter for the day's crucial developments at a glance, the numbers you need to know and what our readers are saying. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Herald's newsletter here and The Age's here.