OZ RULING PARTY DEFEATED IN PARLIAMENT ON REFUGEE CARE

CANBERRA: Australia’s ruling party suffered a rare defeat in Parliament on Tuesday after the opposition joined minor parties and independent lawmakers in passing a bill that would give sick asylum seekers easier access to mainland hospitals.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government argues that the bill, passed 75 to 74 by the House of Representatives, will undermine Australia’s tough refugee policy. The policy banishes asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat to camps on the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The bill would allow doctors instead of bureaucrats to decide which asylum seekers in the camps can fly to Australia for medical treatment. It is likely to be made law by the Senate as early as Wednesday. “This bill is acceptable in absolutely no form. It only weakens our borders, it does not strengthen them,” Morrison said on Tuesday.

Australian governments rarely lose votes in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to form an administration. But the ruling coalition lost its single-seat majority when former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quit politics after he was deposed by his party colleagues in August. Another lawmaker has since quit the government as part of the bitter fallout over the leadership change.

But Morrison on Tuesday ruled out calling a snap election on the refugee issue, saying Australians will go to the polls in May. Refugee advocates applauded from Parliament’s public gallery when lawmakers endorsed a more humanitarian approach. AP