Fed: Democrats invite Lawrence to switch parties
By Sharon Mathieson
CANBERRA, Dec 7 AAP - The Australian Democrats today invited disgruntled Labor MP CarmenLawrence to switch parties.
Democrats Leader Andrew Bartlett used a refugee conference in country NSW to open thedoor for the former West Australian premier to go one further than quitting Labor's shadowcabinet by joining the cross benches.
He praised Dr Lawrence's assessment of Labor's immigration policy and promised a moveto the Democrats would result in an asylum seeker policy based on commonsense and workablesolutions.
In a move triggered by her disgust at Labor's immigration policy, Dr Lawrence quitLabor's frontbench on Thursday, accusing her party's leadership of lacking courage andignoring the views of its members.
She has since been accused by her Labor colleagues of failing to return the loyaltyshown to her, while one frontbencher labelled her actions an unforgivable act of vandalism.
But the Democrats applauded the move.
"Carmen Lawrence's principled resignation is a clear sign that the ALP refugee policyis fundamentally flawed," Senator Bartlett told the Rural Australians for Refugees conferencein Mudgee.
"Criticism of Carmen is just shooting the messenger.
"The Democrats would be quite happy to offer Dr Lawrence asylum from the increasinglyconservative ALP."
Dr Lawrence opposed Labor plans to keep mandatory detention, maintain the exclusionof Christmas Island from Australia's migration zone and the retention of temporary protectionvisas.
The policy was endorsed by Labor caucus hours before Dr Lawrence's resignation fromshadow cabinet.
Dr Lawrence was unavailable for comment today but said on Thursday she wanted to remainon Labor's backbenchers and work at changing her colleagues' views on asylum seekers.
Senator Bartlett said Australia did not need a refugee policy based on the government'spolicy of deter, detect and deny while at the same time it opposed the Australian Greens'proposal to allow unfettered access.
"Three crucial things must be done," he said.
"End the Pacific Solution, its excise zone and its massive expenses, abolish temporaryprotection visas and scrap mandatory detention and the Christmas Island detention centre,"
he said.
"Australia is an island country and does not have the massive amounts of asylum seekersEuropean countries are struggling with.
"We can and should adopt a framework that assesses claims fairly and quickly and ensuresprotection for those who need it."
AAP sm/mg/br
KEYWORD: BOAT DEMOCRATS
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