THE government's anti-protest legislation is one step closer to becoming law, after minimum fines and mandatory jail time were today stripped from the divisive bill. The Workplace (Protection from Protestors) Bill has now passed the committee stage of the Legislative Council. While mandatory sanctions have been scrapped, the maximum penalty for repeat offenders has been doubled from two to four years in prison. Uncertainty had remained over mandatory sanctions going into today's debate, with half of the upper house in support of the measures and the other half against. But the government today broke the impasse by giving ground on minimum penalties. Not all MLCs were happy with the move. ''I think the bill has lost its teeth ... it's a shark with no teeth,'' Huon MLC Robert Armstrong said. ''I'm very disappointed the government has bowed down.'' But Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin said scrapping the sanctions was the ''best case scenario'' in ensuring the legislation's success. Dr Goodwin vowed to revisit protest penalties if the courts proved too lenient. Legislative Councillors will now be given time to consider the bill as amended. A final vote on the bill is expected to succeed when MLCs return to Parliament in two weeks' time. It will then be returned to the House of Assembly, where the government has the numbers to pass the legislation into law.
THE government's anti-protest legislation is one step closer to becoming law, after minimum fines and mandatory jail time were today stripped from the divisive bill.
The Workplace (Protection from Protestors) Bill has now passed the committee stage of the Legislative Council.
While mandatory sanctions have been scrapped, the maximum penalty for repeat offenders has been doubled from two to four years in prison.
Uncertainty had remained over mandatory sanctions going into today's debate, with half of the upper house in support of the measures and the other half against.
But the government today broke the impasse by giving ground on minimum penalties.
Not all MLCs were happy with the move.
''I think the bill has lost its teeth ... it's a shark with no teeth,'' Huon MLC Robert Armstrong said.
''I'm very disappointed the government has bowed down.''
But Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin said scrapping the sanctions was the ''best case scenario'' in ensuring the legislation's success.
Dr Goodwin vowed to revisit protest penalties if the courts proved too lenient.
Legislative Councillors will now be given time to consider the bill as amended.
A final vote on the bill is expected to succeed when MLCs return to Parliament in two weeks' time.
It will then be returned to the House of Assembly, where the government has the numbers to pass the legislation into law.
