Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has delivered a blast to the backbench rebels who helped sink the China extradition treaty, questioning their trust in Australia's own legal and political system.
The deputy Liberal leader has also extended an olive branch to bring Labor back to the table on the ratification, suggesting the government would be prepared to meet an opposition request to review the entire Extradition Act.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull withdrew the treaty from Parliament this week after a backlash from Labor, crossbench senator Cory Bernardi, and a group of government MPs who had threatened to cross the floor over the issue.
The treaty was first signed by John Howard in 2007 and after nearly a decade of delay, the government moved this year to bring it into effect based on advice from the Australian Federal Police and Department of Foreign Affairs that non-ratification was becoming a major diplomatic irritant.
Ms Bishop told Fairfax Media on Thursday that China's ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, had expressed deep disappointment the government had been forced to pull out of plans to ratify the treaty.
The Foreign Minister also said she had told her colleagues at a meeting on Monday night that the proposed treaty gave the government broad discretion to deny extradition.
" They [China] have to lay out the actual charge, if it is anything to do with a military or political offence, if it has the death penalty attached, or you have an apprehension of torture or cruel or inhumane punishment, you can exercise discretion - you can just say no," she said.
"If we are going to say these safeguards are worthless, that means we will never have an extradition treaty that doesn't have the same legal system as our western democracy.
" The point I tried to make to my colleagues is that I trust our political legislative system, and I trust our judicial system... otherwise you are saying you don't trust us to get it right."
She dismissed suggestions the government had tried to sneak ratification through Parliament to coincide with a visit to Australia by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as "absolutely fallacious".
"It's been on the public record with two sets of hearings," she said.
While open to a review of Australia's extradition laws, Ms Bishop said the government would not re-open the China treaty with a view to change its wording.
When Labor announced its decision to disallow ratification, foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said a review of the Extradition Act was needed.
Labor's legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus suggested a "general, catch all clause" could be needed in the treaty that allowed an Australian minister to stop extradition when the circumstances were unjust or oppressive, as exists in some other treaties.
However, Ms Bishop said the government had received legal advice that "unjust and oppressive" did not need to be added as they were covered by the broad discretion contained in the safeguards in the act.
" We will sit down and talk to the Labor leadership. I think Penny Wong indicated it was reviewing the Extradition Act [that Labor wanted]. We can review the Extradition Act."
In China on Thursday, the director of Peking University's anti-corruption study centre, Zhuang Deshui, warned authorities could use "other options" to bring fugitives back to China, including by pressuring family members, if the extradition treaty is not ratified.
"The Chinese ambassador said to me he was very disappointed that the treaty would not be ratified at this time, I explained to him it did not have the support of the Labor Party," Ms Bishop said.
"I explained it would continue to be government policy, but we would need the support of the Labor Party. He made no reference to any consequences."
with Kirsty Needham
