The Greens and Coalition may unite to force a key change to the appointment of the national anti-corruption commissioner, in a move the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, claims could derail the establishment of the body.
On Monday, the Greens justice spokesperson, David Shoebridge, threatened to support the Liberal amendment requiring bipartisan support to appoint the national anti-corruption commissioner unless Labor agreed to put a non-government member in the chair of the Nacc’s parliamentary oversight committee.
Labor and the Greens are now engaged in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship in parliamentary debate on the signature bill, which the Albanese government promised to pass this year.
The Liberal amendment proposes that the appointments of the Nacc commissioner and inspector would require “at least a three-quarters majority” of all the members of the joint parliamentary oversight committee.
Dreyfus said the Liberals had “regrettably” proposed amendments, including one that he claimed “would create an effective veto on the establishment of the national anti-corruption commission”.
Labor fears that, if successful, the amendment could create a US-style confirmation hearing process, allowing a belligerent opposition party to refuse to provide the numbers for a Nacc appointment.
“The government will not be supporting that amendment and, indeed, I would call on the Liberal party to withdraw that amendment,” Dreyfus told reporters in Canberra.
The Nacc and consequential amendment bills passed the House of Representatives last week, and will now pass to the Senate where they will be debated on Monday and Tuesday.
Dreyfus said the government is “still intending that these bills pass through the parliament this year … so that we can get on with the job of implementing the [Nacc] that is so long overdue”.
The Greens have 12 Senate votes, sufficient to combine with the opposition to pass the amendment regardless of the views of Labor and the rest of the crossbench.
Shoebridge said: “from the day this legislation was tabled the government has been on notice that a government-controlled oversight committee does not have the independence required to do its job properly.
“The best solution to this is the Greens’ amendment which requires a non-government chair of the committee, therefore ensuring the government doesn’t have complete control and the opposition doesn’t have a veto,” he said.
“If we don’t get the numbers for the Greens’ amendment, then moving to a supermajority when the committee votes to appoint commissioners is a step in the right direction because it removes the government’s complete control.”
“We are not just making a Nacc for the current government, we are protecting it against a more noxious government in the future that may want to impose the worst of commissioners on the Nacc.”
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, has rejected Dreyfus’ claim that the “amendments somehow seek to veto the establishment of the Nacc”.
“That is an outrageous slur and we call on the government to withdraw that assertion,” he said in a statement.
“Our amendments seek to ensure bipartisan support for the commissioner and inspector.
“This is essential to ensuring the appointments do not become a political issue.
“We note amendments providing for a supermajority for the appointment of the commissioner were also moved by various crossbenchers in the House of Representatives. Nobody has accused them of seeking to veto the Nacc.”
In the lower house independent MP, Allegra Spender, proposed the chair’s vote should not count for appointments, meaning the government would need one more non-government vote, while Helen Haines proposed a two-thirds majority.
Spender backed the Greens’ position on Monday, telling Guardian Australia a super majority, or insisting on a non-government chair, were “reasonable” ways to prevent government control of appointments.
“If we get the wrong commissioner it undermines the Nacc, and that’s extremely damaging.”
Spender said Dreyfus did not want to set a precedent for a non-government chair, but argued “the Nacc is different and the committee has a different role”.
The Jacqui Lambie Network and David Pocock have moved amendments to remove the “exceptional circumstances” test for public hearings – which were defeated by Labor and the Coalition in lower house.
The bill moves to the second reading stage in the Senate on Monday evening, before votes on amendments likely on Tuesday.
