Caucus to debate Coalition’s plan to repeal the regime that allows sick refugees to be evacuated to Australia

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Labor’s new leadership team has flagged it will stay firm in its support of controversial medevac legislation, which allows sick refugees on Manus Island and Nauru to be evacuated to Australia.

While the government’s push to repeal the law still needs to be debated by the Labor caucus and shadow cabinet, the new leader, Anthony Albanese, and shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, have both expressed support for the medical evacuation regime, which passed into law against the government’s will in February.

Since the medevac laws passed parliament in February, 20 people have been transferred to Australia for treatment, with another 40 brought to Australia under existing processes.

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Labor’s support for the legislation, which the government has vowed to repeal as a priority when parliament resumes next month, hinges on the successful provision of urgent medical care for sick refugees and the fact that the minister retains discretion to refuse entry of an individual on security grounds.

“These changes ensure sick people in offshore processing centres can receive the medical care they need, without compromising our strong border protection arrangements,” Keneally told Guardian Australia.

“(And) the minister has full powers to reject a transfer on security and serious criminality grounds.”

Keneally has come under fire since her appointment as the party’s new shadow home affairs minister for saying in a 2017 opinion piece that remaining asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru should be brought to Australia.

“There is a solution to … the Nauru and Manus Island problem that doesn’t depend on the whims of an idiotic and unpredictable US president: bring the refugees to Australia,” she wrote.

But Keneally has since hardened her position, saying she supports Labor’s official platform that no one who attempts to come by boat to claim asylum will be settled in Australia.

Applications under the medevac laws are being administered by the Medical Evacuation Response Group (Merg), which has reported that it is receiving an average of about 11 applications a day, with doctors triaging a daily average of 8.2 claims.

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The Coalition, which suffered a historic defeat on the floor of parliament for the laws to come into effect, will need the support of crossbench senators to successfully repeal the legislation.

The Centre Alliance senators Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff have indicated they will not budge on their position, meaning the government would have to cobble together support from other independents if Labor remained supportive of the laws.

The Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, who is expected to return to Canberra once the Australian Electoral Commission declares the state’s senate result, may be critical to the government’s chances of getting the 39 votes it needs to repeal the law.

The latest count forecasts the Coalition will have 35 seats in the new Senate, with Labor and the Greens to hold 34. One Nation has two senators and the Australian Conservatives has one.