Officials Drop Plans for Stricter Asylum Laws
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From Times Wire Reports
Australia has abandoned plans for tougher asylum laws amid opposition from lawmakers.
The new laws, drawn up to ease Indonesian concerns after Australia granted asylum to 43 Papuans, would have sent all asylum seekers who arrived by boat on mainland Australia to detention camps on the remote Pacific island nation of Nauru.
But Prime Minister John Howard dumped the laws ahead of a vote because he lacked sufficient support in the Senate, where his party holds only a one-seat majority.
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