Monday, 19 October 2009
Audio Transcript:
Will Australia join the rest of the Western world and agree to a national charter of fundamental rights and values?
Hi, my name is Cathy Branson and I am President of the Australian Human Rights Commission and my next big question is...
Will Australia join the rest of the western world and agree to a national charter of fundamental rights and values?
2009 has seen a truly remarkable democratic process unfold in Australia.
The National Human Rights Consultation heard from nearly 40,000 individuals and organisations. It learnt that human rights matter to us as Australians.
This is the greatest participation in a democratic consultation process our country has ever seen. And the majority of those who participated said that they want their human rights better protected – through an Australian Human Rights Act.
Australia stands out from the rest of the western world in that it does not have a national charter of fundamental rights and values.
Countries with similar systems of government such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand have a single national law that sets out how human rights should be protected. It is time that Australia joined its friends and enacted a similar law.
Human rights are about respecting the inherent dignity of every person.
Respect for human rights will lead to a fairer, more inclusive and more secure Australia.
Everyone in Australia should be equally valued and should be able to live free from discrimination.
In particular, children should be protected and their best interests should be considered every time a decision affecting them is made.
Older Australians should be treated respectfully whether they are living at home or being cared for elsewhere.
All Australians, where ever they live, should have access to adequate health services, housing and education.
People with a disability should have access to the services they need to participate fully in the life of the nation, their community and their family.
These are all human rights issues.
We learnt from the national consultation that Australians do not believe that their human rights are sufficiently protected and promoted at present.
This is something that matters to all of us. And not just because in Australia we value a fair go for all. All of us have been young and many of us will one day be old; one in four of us lives with disability; a good number of us live in rural and remote Australia where access to essential services including health care may be poor; significant numbers of us have arrived in this country relatively recently to live, to work or to study and do not always find our culture respected. We know that many of the original inhabitants of this country, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, experience significant social disadvantage.
Our national Constitution was not intended to be a charter of fundamental rights and values.
As a consequence our Parliament can make a law that breaches human rights without explaining why it needs to do so.
Government decision-makers can disregard a person’s human rights and that person may not be able to do anything about it.
There is no single place in Australian law where people can find a clear statement of the rights which are recognised by our law.
We can do better. In countries that have a national law protecting human rights there have been concrete improvements to the lives of vulnerable people.
A good system of human rights protection involves consideration of human rights at all levels, and by all branches of government, with the aim of preventing human rights violations. It also involves giving people whose human rights are breached without legal justification the ability to do something about it.
In short, we need our Parliament to consider the human rights implications of all new laws.
We need our Government’s decision-makers to respect human rights when implementing laws, developing policy and delivering public services.
We need our courts to consider human rights when making decisions.
We need individuals to have the right to challenge government decisions which breach their human rights.
And we need all people in Australia to be more aware of their human rights and their responsibility to respect the rights of others.
A stronger human rights culture will build respect for the human dignity, freedom and equality of all people in Australia.
Our government should listen to the majority who told the National Human Rights Consultation that they want their rights protected through a national human rights law.
It is time that Australia joined the rest of the western world and protected human rights through a national Human Rights Act.
