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Government Rules out Intervention
The federal Government has firmly ruled out overriding mandatory sentencing laws and says it's lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations over its damning report on race relations in Australia. Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams says the report by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was completely unbalanced. Mr Williams says the report, which was released last night in Geneva, failed to make any reference to Australian government representation. While the government has concern about the impact of mandatory sentencing on juveniles, particularly in the Northern Territory, he says it's addressing those issues domestically. He says the damning United Nations report on mandatory sentencing laws calls the author's credibility into question. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination says mandatory sentencing laws discriminate against indigenous Australians and conflict with UN conventions on human rights. In draft observations issued in Geneva, the committee listed 13 concerns, including high incarceration rates of Aborigines and amendments to native title laws. It also made 15 recommendations, including that the federal government override Northern Territory and Western Australian laws if necessary. But Mr Williams says the committee should reconsider its report. He's told ABC radio the committee should reconsider its report and take a more balanced view. Philip Ruddock, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Reconciliation, also rejected the report, saying the report was not a fair and accurate view of Australia's performance. But federal opposition leader Kim Beazley says the UN was responsible for making judgements about human rights across the world and Australians sign up to that role. |
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