MPs sent home: Victorian Parliament off until further notice

Victorian state politicians were sent home from Parliament on Thursday afternoon with no idea of when they will return after the Labor government used its majority to adjourn both houses until further notice amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The move, which has infuriated the Liberal-National opposition, throws the process around the state budget, the centrepiece of the state’s political calendar, into doubt.

Victorian politicians were sent home from Spring Street on Thursday afternoon.Credit:AAP

Both houses were due to take a break until early May when the budget was to be debated, but Labor moved and passed a motion on Thursday morning to postpone the next sitting day to "a date to be confirmed". It is break with the usual practice of nominating the date for Parliament to return.

The government says its move will make it simpler and safer to suspend Parliament if sittings become too dangerous amid the heightening COVID-19 pandemic.

But Victorian Liberals Leader Michael O’Brien says he and his colleagues were "ambushed" by the move in Parliament on Thursday and that the chambers needed to function at a time when the state government had given itself enormous "state of emergency" powers to fight the pandemic.

"It's just extraordinary that not only has the Labour government declared a state of emergency giving themselves enormous powers over the lives of Victorians, but they're also now shutting down the Parliament without a return date," Mr O'Brien said.

"When government has got extraordinary power, it's really important that the government is held accountable, and that means we do need parliament to function."

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