Extract from ABC News
Senator Jacqui Lambie has warned Prime Minister Scott Morrison she will reveal the details of a secret deal made in order to win her support for the repeal of the so-called medevac law if he does not do so himself by the end of the year.
Key points:
- Jacqui Lambie says there are "a couple of things" that "need to be told" by the end of the year
- The Tasmanian independent has become a crucial crossbench vote since her election in 2014
- She admits she was intimidated by other politicians' university backgrounds, but now says they should be intimidated by her
The medical evacuation law was passed against the Government's will in the last sitting week of 2018.
It shifted the power to determine whether sick refugees should be moved to Australia from offshore detention away from the Government, to two treating doctors.
But the bill was overturned after the independent Tasmanian senator voted with the Government and One Nation.
She told the Senate at the time she had made a "really hard decision" to support the legislation's repeal, but had done so because the Government had agreed to an "outcome" that would improve medical treatment for refugees held in offshore detention.
The Government has consistently denied a deal was made.
To date Senator Lambie has refused to disclose details of the negotiations, saying there are national security concerns, but pledging to do so at some point in the future.
In an interview with 7.30, Senator Lambie said the nature of the deal would be made clear by the end of the year.
"And if the Prime Minister doesn't do it, I will," she said.
"So he can go and threaten me with jail or whatever he likes on a piece of paper. I don't care. But if he doesn't tell you by the end of the year, I will. How's that for you, right? He's had long enough."
Senator Lambie said she had "very regular updates" from "the person that is heavily involved in … trying to move those refugees".
"Go and put that on your bloody TV show. That'll give them a warning. Yeah, I will.
"We wore enough from that — me and my office — and we wanted to come out and tell the truth."
She said there were "a couple of things, in fact" that "need to be told" by the end of the year.
From a political novice to crucial crossbench vote
The last survivor of the original group elected as part of the Palmer United Party in 2013, Senator Lambie has been an independent since 2014 and, with the shape of the crossbench waxing and waning, has become not just a crucial vote in the make-up of that crossbench, but a much more seasoned parliamentary operator.
And she has a talent for cutting through with her message.
She made a particular mark last week in a passionate speech against the Government's proposed university funding changes, talking about her own lack of university education.
"As a kid, you're asked what you want to do when you grow up. Your answer is based on what you see around you," she told the Senate.
"But if none of the adults in your life went to university, you just don't know how to picture yourself there.
"For me, I never thought I'd make it to uni. I always saw university as being for someone else. The sorts of people who went to uni in my eyes were the ones on TV. They were the politicians making decisions a world away.
"I refuse to be the vote that tells poor kids out there, or those sitting on that fine line, 'No matter how gifted and no matter how determined you are, you might as well dream a little cheaper because you're never going to make it. Because you can't afford it.'
"I won't take that from them. I won't be a part of that."
For a novice, Senator Lambie has proved herself politically adept. She was re-elected to the Senate in her own right in 2016 and again in 2019, despite having had to resign in 2017 during the dual citizenship crisis.
But she has also become much better at dealing with the pressures of being on the crossbench, particularly when you consider that, as she admits herself, she didn't even know "what the difference was between the Upper and the Lower House" when she came to Parliament.
"I just had no idea. You know, you just had no idea, no idea whatsoever."
'You should be intimidated by me'
Being an independent crossbench senator is also a particularly tough path.
You are required to have a position on everything that goes through the Parliament, yet have fewer staffing resources to help you consider your positions.
But she has learned a few tricks of the trade.
"You take a step back and you think … This little bugger's really trying to put the pressure on me and rush this through, that's always a red flag, right? Always a red flag," she said.
When it came to last week's education bill, she said: "I've been in the game a little bit longer and I could see … when in doubt, throw it out."
And she has become more confident and decisive in the calls she makes.
"I think what benefits us now is when we say no, they don't keep coming banging at my doors," she said.
"They know now from years of experience when I say no, I mean bloody, 'No, it's over. So go do your bargaining with someone else.'"
She used to find the experience of Parliament intimidating, given the university education of many parliamentarians.
"Now I think, 'You should be intimidated by me.' [They have] got no life experience," she said.
What people who find themselves in Parliament almost unexpectedly will always tell you is about how much you learn — and in most cases, how much it opens their eyes to the complexities of life.
"It's learning over time, but it's also the different people that you meet out there, that's — I really liked that bit," she said.
'Nothing's black and white'
Senator Lambie drew criticism in her early years for advocating a contentious, but sometimes eclectic series of positions, from expressing her admiration for Vladimir Putin to calling for pre-emptive pardons for defence personnel accused of war crimes.
But it was when she pushed for banning the burka and criticised sharia law (without really knowing what it meant) that she found herself in particular hot water.
She has subsequently distanced herself from these positions as divisive, and suggested they were the subject of bad advice.
Once a critic of the Greens, she has sided with them on political donations, and passionately defended Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young for standing her ground on asylum seekers.
She's recently rejected a Government move to stop people in immigration detention having mobile phones.
"I just feel, you know, that I'm, really, really blessed to be in this sort of position … just meeting all those different people out there. And it's learning something new every day, not just one thing, you're always learning," she said.
"Nothing's black and white.
"You know, things can change overnight. You've only got to look at COVID-19. But what you've got to do is you've got to be able to run with it. Life is not black and white. "
Senator Lambie still thinks that the culture is all wrong, that voter mistrust has only increased further in recent times, and that the country needs a federal anti-corruption commission.
"These people up here think they're untouchable, that there's no discipline, there's no penalties. When they do something wrong, they put them on the sidelines and they bring them back in and make them ministers again.
"They'll give them jobs for mates when they leave Parliament. And I find that really sick to the gut. I'd really like to see an ICAC up here. Because quite frankly, they need policing up here. And I think that would start to get some trust in people out there."
No comments:
Post a Comment