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Canberra denies unease over Blair

By DAVID REARDON and MELISSA MARINO

15 July 2000 - The Federal Government has denied embarrassment over the involvement of Cherie Booth, the barrister wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in an international legal challenge by Aborigines to the government's mandatory sentencing laws.

Prime Minister John Howard and Attorney-General Daryl Williams said Ms Booth's involvement in preliminary discussions over a formal complaint lodged with the United Nations Human Rights Committee was not detrimental to Australia's relationship with Britain.

Mr Williams said mandatory sentencing had been raised at international forums in the past and the involvement of Ms Booth, QC, in this case was irrelevant to relations between the two nations.

"Australia has no embarrassment on this issue in the international community," Mr Williams said yesterday after opening a Red Cross conference in Perth on international human rights. "We are very proud of our record on human rights and non-discrimination."

Prime Minister John Howard said he did not consider the move by Ms Booth to be a snub. He said Ms Booth was just doing her job and as a human rights lawyer had appeared in cases against her husband's government. "Having done that, why would she make an exception of the Australian Government?" he told Channel Nine.

But Professor Timothy McCormack, of the University of Melbourne's law faculty, one of the speakers at the conference, said it was disappointing that the government had turned a blind eye to human rights breaches in its own back yard.

He said the government could not ignore problems, such as mandatory sentencing, which were in breach of international covenants.

"Australia is hardly a pariah on human rights but that doesn't mean the government can be selective on which international obligations it adheres to and which ones it doesn't bother with," he said.

Federal shadow attorney-general Robert McClelland said the case reflected the depth of concern that existed around the world about the laws.

He said Mr Howard and Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke should be ashamed of their lack of leadership.

"There are successful alternatives to mandatory detention which have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing crime and recidivism in other Australian states, and internationally," he said.

But Mr Williams said Mr Howard and and Mr Burke had reached an agreement on some amendments and negotiations on finer details, in particular, the development of diversionary programs, which would lessen the impact of the territory's laws. "We expect to finalise the negotiations fairly soon and, on that basis, the impact of mandatory sentencing should be significantly diminished, if not eliminated," he said.

Source: The Age

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