Coalition backbenchers abandon mandatory jailing bills Source: AAP | Published: Wednesday March 15, 4:52 PM Prime Minister John Howard derailed federal attempts to overturn mandatory sentencing today when government backbenchers agreed to abandon two legislative attacks on the Northern Territory laws. Sydney Liberal MP Danna Vale bowed to an impassioned party room debate by withdrawing her bill that would have exempted children from the NT laws. This was despite nine of her colleagues speaking out in support - enough to carry the bill through the House of Representatives with Labor support. 'Regrettably, I was unable to sway the majority of my colleagues and it was the democratic decision of the joint party room not to allow the bill,' Mrs Vale told journalists. 'I will not therefore be taking this bill any further.' The vanquished government supporters of the Vale bill also agreed not to defy Mr Howard by crossing the floor on a similar bill sponsored by Greens Senator Bob Brown. The Brown bill, which would free children from mandatory sentencing in both the NT and Western Australia, was passed by the Senate today with Labor and Australian Democrats support. None of the government members and senators had even reserved their decisions on the Brown bill during the two-hour party room meeting, a government spokesman said. 'They either indicated that explicitly or implicitly from their comments. I don't believe anybody will be supporting the Brown bill from the government parties,' he said. Mr Howard told the party room he would phone NT Chief Minister Denis Burke and advise him not to take too much comfort from their decision not to act. The prime minister also promised to establish a backbench committee to advise cabinet on the findings of a Senate inquiry that this week recommended the WA and NT laws be overruled. Senator Brown said Mr Howard would be remembered as a prime minister who provided big business with the GST but failed to free children from unjust jail sentences. 'Danna Vale and the other Liberals who have spoken up in the party room today are what's left of the true Liberal spirit in this country,' Senator Brown said. 'It is a pretty sad day that they have been mandatorily sentenced to sit on their hands against their own consciences by a prime minister who can't act with the leadership required to overcome mandatory sentencing.' Senator Brown said there was a chance his bill, amended to exclude WA, could win the support of enough Liberals to pass the House of Representatives. Mrs Vale would not speculate on whether she would support such a bill. 'I think that really is hypothetical at this stage,' she said. She felt she had taken her cause as far as she could, despite the rules of the Liberal Party allowing members to cross the floor. 'I feel I have in my conscience and that's what's been guiding me through all this,' she said. Opposition Leader Kim Beazley described Mr Howard's inaction on mandatory sentencing as untenable. North Australia Aboriginal Legal Aid would take a case against mandatory sentencing to the United Nations Human Rights Committee before the Sydney Olympics, lawyer John Sheldon said. -- ********************************* 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/
