Labor has ambushed the government by suspending standing orders to debate the Coalition’s firearms legislation, which then passed the lower house without opposition.
The surprise tactic saw the government leader in the house, Peter Dutton, at first attempt to shut down the push before government members voted with Labor to debate their legislation in a bizarre scene in the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon.
The shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, told Guardian Australia the leadership group had decided to support the bill in line with a resolution of caucus in 2019 that, although it opposes mandatory minimums, Labor will not block bills that tackle serious crimes, such as firearms and child sexual offences.
The passage of the bill is the second time in two days that Labor has sidestepped attempts by the Morrison government to wedge it on national security, after helping to pass the visa cancellation bill on Wednesday.
The parliamentary tactic is designed to show-up the fact that the bills are a “test for Labor”, as the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, described the visa bill, rather than a good faith attempt to amend the laws.
Labor has flagged its intention to amend the visa bill, but with just two Senate sitting days left in late March before the 2022 election, it is unclear whether either bill will progress to a final vote.
The government’s firearms bill introduced on Wednesday, proposes to increase maximum sentences for trafficking and set a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for firearms offences.
The home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, said there are 260,000 illegal firearms in Australia, which criminals use to “threaten and terrorise … innocent bystanders”.
“That is why it is important that we have legislation in place that would prevent the importation of these weapons,” Andrews said.
On Thursday morning Keneally declined to state a position on the bill, telling ABC Radio that Labor had yet to see the legislation, adding that “keeping people safe, and organised crime and firearms are of course important issues”.
Shortly after noon, the manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, moved to suspend standing orders to bring on a debate on the firearms legislation.
After Dutton intervened, Liberal MP Kevin Andrews in the Speaker’s chair asked the house to divide to disagree to the motion.
Although at first government members gathered to the right of the Speaker’s chair to silence Burke, they then swapped sides to join Labor in voting to debate the bill.
Labor members including the leader, Anthony Albanese, queried whether the rules allowed them to change sides but the Speaker, Andrew Wallace, allowed it.
Wallace then gave the call to Andrews to speak on another matter, before Albanese noted that because the motion was carried the firearms bill must be debated.
Labor’s Brendan O’Connor asked to speak but Dutton moved to give the bill a third reading, which passed on the voices just 19 minutes after the suspension.
In the government’s account of the episode, Labor hoped to goad the government into shutting debate down but the tactic backfired.
Keneally said she and the leadership group had considered the bill on Thursday. Labor decided to support the bill because it was “fairly straightforward” and consistent with the caucus position that when in opposition: “While we don’t support mandatory minimums we’re not going to let that stand in the way of achieving important outcomes to tackle serious crimes.”
In 2020 Labor helped the government pass a bill with mandatory minimum sentences for child sexual offences, despite its opposition to mandatory minimums.
Labor will not seek to amend the firearms bill in the Senate, Keneally said. “We can’t govern from opposition – Mr Morrison seemed quite clear in his intent to politicise national security in the context of an election, trying to manufacture a difference with the opposition when, in reality, one does not exist.”
On Tuesday Scott Morrison encouraged Coalition MPs and senators in the party room to sharpen the differences with Labor on national security in a bid to recover the government’s position before the 2022 election.
Labor’s support for the firearms bill gives the government a clear way to pass it in the Senate in budget week, but the fate of the visa cancellation bill is still unclear.
On Wednesday Hawke promised a vote before the election but appeared to concede in question time that “we have run out of time to pass the bill”.
In debate on Wednesday evening, Hawke said: “I want this to be supported in the Senate. We have spoken to the crossbench, and we believe we have support.”
Despite the claim, senators Rex Patrick, Stirling Griff and Jacqui Lambie have all confirmed to Guardian Australia their positions have not changed since October, when they combined with Labor and the Greens to defeat the bill.
