Liberal frontbencher and former lawyer Malcolm Turnbull said he cannot understand why David Hicks’s lawyers did not push for a plea bargain earlier. Mr Turnbull said he had been wondering for some time what the motivations were behind stalling a plea deal. Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, told reporters on Friday night that there were initial plea discussions about Hicks’s case two years ago and that the negotiations picked up speed recently.
I’d suggest that Turnbull knows the answer to his own question – the Howard government wasn’t ready to do a deal, presumably hoping it could ride it out until after the election.
“What an amazing coincidence that, with an election in Australia by the end of the year, he gets nine months and he is gagged for 12 months from talking about it,” said Australian lawyer Lex Lasry.
Filed under: Australian values, Politics
The Dog's Bollocks 
You would have to be charged first with an offense in order to do a deal and after 5yrs 4mths, Hicks was finally charged and then a deal was brokered.
Turnbull knows this and is just blurring the edges of an argument that the govt can’t win on their support of the military trials.
[…] Kris wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLiberal frontbencher and former lawyer Malcolm Turnbull said he cannot understand why David Hicks’s lawyers did not push for a plea bargain earlier. Mr Turnbull said he had been wondering for some time what the motivations were behind … […]