ABC News Thu, 16 Mar 2000 9:41 AEDT Bills flood parliament to overturn mandatory sentencing Federal Labor leader Kim Beazley says he will introduce his own mandatory sentencing bill, identical to that passed yesterday by the Senate. The Senate yesterday passed a bill put forward by Greens Senator Bob Brown to overturn the laws in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The bill has been placed on the House of Representatives notice paper, after moves to bring on the debate were gagged and it is unlikely to be passed when the government uses its numbers. Mr Beazley says he is not prepared to let the matter drop. "My bill is exactly the same as the Senate bill, but the Government has effectively taken over the Senate bill and they've put it in archives," he said. "I'm reviving it from our side of the House." Independent Independent federal MP Peter Andren says he will also introduce his own bill to override mandatory sentencing. Mr Andren has announced his plans for a fresh bill, targeting only the Northern Territory, after the Coalition scuttled plans for a similar bill by Liberal Danna Vale. "It's essentially aimed at the Northern Territory alone, it's aimed at children adding the proviso they be under 18," he said. "So it bites somewhat into the adult sentencing part of that legislation and it essentially is a bill for an Act to prevent mandatory sentencing of children in the Northern Territory." Meanwhile Ms Vale says the Prime Minister gave "full consideration" to the bill she put forward to overturn mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory. Ms Vale says John Howard gave her a fair hearing. Ms Vale's bill was voted down 27-9 in the Coalition partyroom. © 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation -- ********************************* Make the Hunger Site your homepage! http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html ********************************* ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
