Corby lawyers slam government aid claims

16:37 AEST Sat May 28 2005

Schapelle Corby's Australian lawyers say federal government claims it had previously offered legal assistance are rubbish.

Gold Coast lawyer Robin Tampoe has reacted angrily to the suggestions, accusing the government of "poor form" for failing to offer help earlier.

The government has offered Corby's legal team the free services of two Queens Counsel (QCs) with experience in Indonesian law, as it prepares to mount an appeal.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the offer had also been made in the past but was turned down.

Mr. Tampoe said a previous offer was made by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock through the media and not directly to him.

The reality is this offer was never made to the Australian lawyers, it was never made to the Indonesian lawyers, it was something that Mr. Ruddock said on the radio in Australia and it's something that was said after the defence's evidence had closed.

"You know I think it's very poor form and what they should have done if they wanted to help Schapelle Corby in that sort of instance is offer both financial support and offer legal support back on October 8, 2004."

"It's not true ... we're all very upset about those comments being made," he said.

A spokesman for Mr. Ruddock said Mr. Tampon's Gold Coast office was contacted by phone on at least two occasions in late March and offered legal assistance.

But Mr. Tampoe said any offer of help would never be rejected, and to put it out there that we've knocked back some sort of assistance is rubbish.

"We've taken help from everybody, we're certainly not too proud to do that."

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Justice Minister has started talks with Corby's legal team, raising hopes of a presidential pardon.

But Mr. Tampoe said he did not know how the high-level intervention could influence the case.

"I'm probably not the right person to answer it, you know, those are things that I'd rather leave for the Indonesian government ... it's for them to comment, not for me."

Mr. Tampoe also refused to say whether lawyers would withdraw their appeal in favour of seeking a presidential pardon.

"We've got to be very careful about every move we make, we just want to be very certain that we do what's best for her and that's really all I can say. We'll pursue every conceivable avenue that we can, anything that we can possibly do to get Schapelle Corby home."

15:45 AEST Sun May 29 2005

Australian's are calling for a boycott to all travel to Indonesia, security to be upgraded at Australian International Airports and for the money donated by them to Indonesia for the Tsunami Aid Fund be refunded.

Australian supporters are to hold rallies in support of Schappelle Corby innocence on the anniversary of her birthday, Sunday 10th July 2005 in every capital city. They are gathering signatures of support to present to the Indonesian government.

18:47 AEST Sun May 29 2005

Almost one in two Queenslanders believe Indonesia should be boycotted as a result of Schapelle Corby's conviction for drug smuggling and 20-year jail sentence.

A two-day Brisbane radio station web poll, posted on 97.3FM's web site, found 47.62 per cent of more than 1,000 respondents believed Corby's verdict was an injustice, they would never travel to Indonesia, and all Australian aid to Indonesia should be stopped.

A further 23.81 per cent believed Corby's verdict was wrong and she should be freed.

The 27-year-old Gold Coast beauty student was convicted on Friday of smuggling 4.1 kg of marijuana into Bali and has been sentenced to 20 years in an Indonesian jail.

According to the poll run by the Australian Radio Network station, 19.05 per cent believed the verdict was fair and Corby was lucky she had not been sentenced to death, while 9.52 per cent believed she was guilty but the sentence was too harsh.

97.3FM began its poll within minutes of Corby's sentencing.