A couple of hours ago Johnny tried to push
emergency powers to remove this ship and
is now F***** by the Senate, how in the hell
is a govt surpposed to fix problems even
when 90+% of the population want it ???:
The Senate has rejected emergency Government legislation which would have given legal cover for any attempt to forcibly remove the Norwegian ship, Tampa, from Australia's waters.
The Government attempted to ram through the Parliament the retrospective legislation which would have given it broad powers to forcibly remove any ship from Australia's waters while preventing any legal challenge to such a move.
The Prime Minister demanded the Parliament pass it last night.
But the Opposition gave up what had been a bi-partisan approach to the issue of Tampa and the more than 400 asylum seekers on board, and rejected the legislation calling it politically motivated and too sweeping.
Labor was joined by the Democrats, Greens Senator Bob Brown and Independent Brian Harradine in voting the bill down.
The Tampa remains in Australian waters just off Christmas Island.
Australian SAS troops have been on board since yesterday, but despite repeated demands, the ship's captain is refusing to move it out to international waters.
While the legislation the Government says would reinforce its legal position has been rejected, the Government is still likely to act to force the freighter out of Australian waters