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So you want to learn more? Great. Human rights in Australia is a complex issue, so we've tried to summarise things here, with some handy links if you want to explore things further.

What are human rights?

Human Rights are a set of fundamental freedoms and protections that every person is entitled to. They are universal, they apply to every person, regardless of race, age, gender, religion. The Second World War brought human rights to the forefront of the world's conscience. Never again would we allow genocide, persecution, and the ideologies of difference which led to these atrocities. The newly formed United Nations drafted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. And we were there, arguing for equality, dignity and respect for all humanity.

Isn't Australia big on human rights?

Australia has signed almost all the major human rights declarations and conventions out there. Along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have signed up to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). While we're good at signing international documents, we haven't been as quick to apply them in Australia.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has sent Australia a report card on human rights in April 2009. Let's just say, we didn't get straight A's:

"The Committee notes that the Covenant has not been incorporated into domestic law and that the State party has not yet adopted a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of the Covenant rights at the Federal level, despite the recommendations adopted by the Committee in 2000."

It goes on to state ways in which our current laws breach human rights on a number of levels. Our counter-terrorism legislation denies suspects the presumption of innocence, and access to a lawyer. Our Northern Territory Intervention policy needs to be redesigned in consultation with Indigenous Australians to make them consistent with the Racial Discrimination Act, which was suspended to pass these laws. With these and other breaches, our laws provide little protection, and some times flatly deny equality and fairness between Australians.

So are our human rights protected in Australia?

In short, not enough. The Law Council of Australia has described our current protection as 'plainly inadequate'. We have a lot of freedom in Australia, but there is nothing protecting these freedoms from being denied.

Take our counter-terrorism laws as an example. We've given ASIO the ability to lock people up without legal protection, without the presumption of innocence, and without access to a lawyer. Benjamin Franklin once said:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security
will deserve neither and lose both."

The true measure of a society is how it treats its poor, its marginalised, and even the dignity it affords its prisoners in trial and detention. Currently our laws, without comprehensive protection for human rights, are starting to erode the basic liberties that form the basis of our free society.

Without a Human Rights Act, the human rights we all think we have, which we are all entitled to, remain unprotected

Is there any good news here?

Yes sir. Very good news. The Australian government has announced a National Human Rights Consultation. It's put the following questions on the table:

  • Which human rights (including corresponding responsibilities) should be protected and promoted?
  • Are these human rights currently sufficiently protected and promoted?
  • How could Australia better protect and promote human rights?

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for every Australian to contribute to human rights in Australia. The government is listening to the voice of the Australian people. We have a unique chance to ask for a Human Rights Act, a protection of equality and fairness in Australia.

If you haven't done so already, you can act now for a Human Rights Act in Australia.