ANDREW GREENE: Rebel National Senator Susan McDonald faces expulsion from Parliament’s intelligence committee
Labor is considering removing a Nationals senator from a prestigious parliamentary committee that receives classified security briefings, while other members of the party are also likely to lose prized appointments following this week’s Coalition breakup.
As the political fall-out from the Opposition’s split continues, the Nightly can reveal government talks have begun on replacing Queensland Senator Susan McDonald with a Green or Independent MP for Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
This week Senator McDonald was one of three National frontbenchers who resigned from the Shadow Ministry after crossing the floor in the Upper House to vote against the Government’s hate crime legislation.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I’m not sure how we can have the National Party represented on the PJCIS now that they have voted against new laws to ban hate groups,” one Labor MP tells The Nightly.
Other Government figures have already begun considering the possibility of appointing a Green or Teal MP to the committee, with initial discussion focussed on Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, given her strong support from the Jewish community.
Under the Act which establishes the PJCIS, membership of the committee is divided into representatives of the Government and non-government parties, with the Prime Minister of the day ultimately responsible for who can join.
Members of the committee regularly receive classified briefings from Australia’s intelligence agencies, but in recent years the government has privately accused opposition members of leaking sensitive information.
The PJCIS currently has 12 government and opposition members and is chaired by Labor Senator Raff Ciccone, while the Deputy Chair is Liberal MP Phillip Thompson, and Senator McDonald is the sole Nationals representative.
To date, the only member of the PJCIS not to come from one of major parties was former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie, who sat on the committee between 2010-2013 as part of his minority government deal with then Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
During the committee’s recent examination of new laws targeting guns and hate speech drawn up following the Bondi massacre, opposition members of the PJCIS dissented and issued their own response.
“The bigger issue is that PJCIS is supposed to be the pre-eminent committee of the Parliament, and yet it is now populated with a series of second-rate politicians,” says one government figure, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Traditionally its reports have always been bipartisan. Members have bent over backwards to reach agreement. That has fractured occasionally in the past but since the Libs went into opposition, it has become a near permanent feature for them to dissent.”
In 2021, Liberal Senator James Paterson — who was then Committee Chair — argued the Intelligence Services Act needed reform to manage the increasing scope of the committee and “the greatest workload it has ever faced”.
Government and Opposition figures believe the recent implosion of the Coalition will mean more Nationals MPs are likely to be replaced on various other parliamentary committees given they are no longer part of the official opposition.
The Nightly has approached the Prime Minister’s office and Senator McDonald for comment, but both are yet to respond.
