Drunken attack on woman puts Australian party leader out

By GREG ANSLEY


CANBERRA - The future of Australia's third-largest political force, the Democrats, has been shaken by the removal of its leader after a violent and abusive attack on a senior female Government Senator.

Senator Andrew Bartlett, 39, stepped down over the weekend after dramatic television film showed his drunken assault on 62-year-old Auckland-born Jeannie Ferris, the Government's Upper House Whip.

Bartlett gatecrashed a Christmas barbecue being held by the governing Liberal-National coalition on Thursday night and made off with five bottles of wine.

After being forced to hand four unopened bottles back, he confronted Ferris on the floor of the Senate.

She said Bartlett grabbed her arm "with considerable force" as he was crossing the floor of the Senate after a late-night vote and began shouting, repeatedly calling her "a ******** bitch".

Bartlett's personal and written apologies, accompanied by a bottle of wine as a peace offering, have not mollified Ferris, who said yesterday that she did not feel the Democrats leader was genuinely sorry.

"It was a pretty frightening thing to happen to me," she said.

"It was very, very unpleasant, as you might imagine, when someone follows you and continues to abuse you."

Ferris, confirming other reports around Federal Parliament, said the Thursday night incident was not the first time Bartlett's drinking had been a problem.

His behaviour is a serious blow to the Democrats, who embrace left-of-centre values of non-violence, women's rights and other issues of gender and social equity.

Racked by internal dissent and suffering after making a deal with the Government that allowed the introduction of GST, the party lost much of its support to the Greens.

Bartlett won the leadership last year after bitter divisions forced the resignation of Natasha Stott-Despoja, and prompted previous leader Meg Lees to quit and form a new centrist splinter party.

As the news of Bartlett's assault broke, Democrats senators held an emergency phone conference.

They agreed that their leader should step down and be replaced by his deputy, Lyn Allison, until a final decision on his future is made.

Allison yesterday acknowledged the potential harm to the party.

"I'd like to think it's not a permanent situation of damage, but it certainly is at the present time, and I think nobody regrets that more than Senator Bartlett," she said.

In a written statement, Bartlett apologised to Ferris and to the party.

"Physical aggression is never appropriate, and regardless of any of the other circumstances surrounding the incident, it is not acceptable," he said.

The incident has been condemned by Democrat senators, Prime Minister John Howard, Labor leader Mark Latham, and women's groups.

"Anything that involves that kind of behaviour, towards women in particular, and I guess men as well, is just not acceptable," Howard said from Nigeria, where he is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Latham, who is still trying to live down a fracas in which he broke a Sydney taxi-driver's arm two years ago, said he hoped Bartlett could overcome his problems.

"Nobody is perfect in public life, people do make mistakes, and if he is able to sort out those issues and come back to make a contribution in the future, then that's the sort of democracy we want," he said.

Women's Electoral Lobby spokeswoman Sarah Maddison said it was completely unacceptable that the leader of a political party - or any man - would respond to a conflict through violence directed towards a woman.

The Democrats

The party has seven seats in the 76-seat Senate.

Has left-of-centre values of non-violence and equal opportunity.

Internal divisions last year led to resignation of then-leader Natasha Stott-Despoja.