Posted by Sigismund on November 14, 2008, at 18:33:06
Four backbench Liberals, Petro Georgiou, Judi Moylan, Bruce Baird and Russell Broadbent) went to see John Howard about the policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
Georgiou was preparing to introduce a private members bill to parliament Here is an edited account of the meeting.....>The rebels and Howard gnawed at each others positions with increasing frustration. The underlying intensity occasionally cracked the polite veneer of the meetings they had held with Howard. Moylan had to hold herself in check whenever Howard referred to refugees as 'stock'.
>"How much stock do we have?" he would ask, in what she assumed was an administrative aside.
>On another occasion Moylan slammed down her notes on the table saying she was "sick of being called a political terrorist" because she disagreed with the detention policies.
>Howard replied that he was "sick of being told I have no compassion".
>"Let's be clear about this, Petro. If you do this you will embarrass your Government and you will embarrass your party.
>"I'll tell you what's embarrassing, John," Georgiou said. "Three years ago you agreed to let out a three month old baby who'd been born in detention. She's now three years old and she's smashing her head against a wall in Villawood. That's an embarrassment to the party, John.
>"We've got psychiatric patients I went to you about, who should have been released for treatment, but instead that was blocked by the department and now a court has found the Government has breached its duty of care to these people. That's what I call an embarrassment to the party.
>"And we've got 140 people locked up for three years or more with no convictions and no eveidence they pose a threat to anyone. Let me tell you, John, that's an embarrassment. I'm introducing the bill tomorrow."
Stock?
Beam me up.
poster:Sigismund
thread:863080
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20081002/msgs/863080.html