The Albanese government has accused the Coalition of playing politics with national security, amid a political brawl over changes that could see crossbenchers join the secretive bipartisan intelligence committee.
There is speculation that the independent MP Andrew Wilkie could be in contention to be appointed to the committee – which only has major party members – but the government has not confirmed any potential choices.
Positions on the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security (PJCIS) are coveted because it regularly receives top-secret briefings from Asio and other agencies. It also has input into major national security legislation.
The Coalition has slammed a government plan to increase the number of members on the committee from 11 to 13.
It said it was “concerned that these proposed changes will allow the government to add at least another one or possibly two members from the crossbench as part of a grubby back-room political deal between the government and members of the crossbench”.
The Coalition also said the changes could theoretically allow the government to give itself an overwhelming majority on the committee.
Andrew Wallace, the deputy chair of the PJCIS and a Speaker under the Morrison government, said the opposition was concerned that the proposed changes were “a result of internal politics within the government”.
But a spokesperson for the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the change was “simply about expanding the number of people on the committee to make it easier to manage its workload”.
The spokesperson said the prime minister “already has the power to nominate any member of the parliament as member of the committee” and it was up to the houses of parliament to appoint those members.
“The Coalition has broken the historic and important tradition of bipartisanship on the PJCIS,” the spokesperson said.
“It is highly disappointing they have chosen to play politics on this issue. The Albanese government will remain focused on keeping Australians safe.”
Government sources said if the prime minister chose to appoint a crossbencher it would not be unprecedented because Wilkie, a former intelligence analyst, was a member of the PJCIS from 2010 to 2013 during the Gillard minority government.
Wallace is among the five Coalition members of the PJCIS to issue a report opposing the planned changes.
It is the first time in 17 years that there has been a dissenting report.
The Coalition members said the opposition “considers that the only members who should sit on the committee should be from parties of government” – meaning the Coalition and Labor.
“The success of the committee over the years is in part, as a result of it being comprised of members of the parties of government which have a stake in ensuring that national security legislation is effective, workable, consistent and appropriate,” the dissenting report said.
The Coalition report said adding a crossbench member “risks undermining the trust and confidence built up on the committee over successive parliaments, and render it simply like any other committee of the parliament”.
It also said expanding the membership increased the risk of classified material being leaked “either intentionally or inadvertently”.
The Greens senator David Shoebridge said it was “almost amusing seeing the Coalition with its recent history of disrespect for core political norms of accountability suggest they are more trusted with secrets than Greens or independents”.
Shoebridge said the phrase “parties of government” had no foundation in the constitution and was “code for the broken two-party club of Labor and the Coalition”.
“It’s not surprising that the Coalition, with its freefall from government and diving opinion polls, is desperately trying to hold on to any form of special power, but self-interest is rarely this nakedly expressed,” he said.
When contacted for a response, Wallace said Labor was the one playing politics because it had failed to engage in meaningful consultation “and then sneakily released its report late on a Friday afternoon hoping to avoid any scrutiny”.
Wilkie told the Nine newspapers on Friday that he “would be quick to put my hand up” for a position on the committee, but he declined to comment further on Sunday.
The independent MP for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, said Wilkie was “as qualified as any other current member of the committee, if not more so, and has already demonstrated the required discretion and judgment when he served with distinction on the committee a decade ago”.
“Contrary to the argument of the Coalition, appointing an independent would encourage the very collegiality they claim to seek while minimising the risk of groupthink,” Daniel said.
