Dutton medevac stance threatens crossbench 'cordial relationship'

The row has triggered a warning from Centre Alliance, which has two crucial votes in the Senate, against any government plan to scrap the law passed in February allowing doctors to recommend the transfer of refugees to Australia for medical treatment.

Angry at the way Mr Dutton has characterised the refugee law, Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff accused the Home Affairs Minister of an "outright lie" and said the false claims would undermine talks on the sweeping tax cuts.

The new warning comes after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson attacked the government for failing to negotiate with her on its tax cuts while Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie keeps the government guessing on her stance.

"It's not a wise move," Senator Griff said of the government's plan to seek the repeal of the "medevac" law to transfer sick refugees.

"They will want a cordial relationship with us and this is not a good start."

The government needs support from four of the six crossbench Senators to pass any law over the objections of Labor and the Greens, forcing it to negotiate with Senator Griff and Rex Patrick from Centre Alliance as well as Senator Hanson and Malcolm Roberts from One Nation, Senator Lambie and South Australian independent Cory Bernardi.

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison is hoping for an agreement with Centre Alliance on the income tax cuts, this could become more difficult if relations rupture over Mr Dutton's incendiary claims about the refugee bill.

Senator Griff, who helped pass the refugee medical transfer laws in February, said he would not negotiate on the tax and medevac bills together but wanted the government to drop its plans to repeal the medical transfer law.

"We will look at every bill on its merits and we will not link the two bills, but this will certainly undermine the relationship," he said.

"It's all about the relationship."

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed on Sunday that the expert medical panel responsible for reviewing the medical transfers had only been used nine times despite Mr Dutton's claim that the law would open the "floodgates" for asylum seekers.

The government has approved 31 transfers over four months. Only nine transfers recommended by doctors have been rejected by the government and referred to the medical review panel. The panel cleared two of these cases for transfer and backed the government on the other seven.

This means the majority of the transfers went ahead without objections from Mr Dutton or other ministers. Of the 31 refugees, 22 have arrived in Australia.

Mr Dutton warned last week that the medical law was opening the "floodgates" to asylum seekers, especially after a Federal Court ruling last week that doctors did not need to see patients face-to-face to approve their transfer for assessment in Australia.

Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar reiterated the warning on Sunday by saying the law was "completely unworkable" and "impractical" and should be repealed.

Senator Griff said the confirmation that only 22 had come to Australia so far undermined the rhetoric about "floodgates" and showed the law was working as planned, with oversight by the minister and the medical review panel.

Senator Griff said the government's rhetoric was "all about creating fear" and that Mr Dutton's claim about more arrivals was an "outright lie" because the law only applied to asylum seekers already on Manus Island and Nauru.

"Anyone else who goes to Manus or anywhere else is not covered by this bill," he said.

"At this stage the minister is effectively spinning misinformation. The law is not a mechanism to open the floodgates to Australia."