2020 SUMMIT CALL FOR A BILL OR CHARTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Strong support for a statutory bill or charter of rights was expressed by participants in the governance group at the 2020 Summit held last weekend. (Report). Similar support was also expressed at the preceding weekends 2020 Youth Summit. (Communique) 

These outcomes reinforce the declared position of attorney-general, Robert McClelland, who has put on record his intention to hold nationwide public consultations about the rights that Parliament should protect and a set of aspirational responsibilities.

The Human Rights Act for Australia campaign hopes for the early commencement of the attorney-generals consultation process and looks forward to working closely with other community organisations to raise awareness of this initiative and to encourage the widest possible participation in it.

At the summit there was some minority support for a parliamentary charter. Opponents to a bill or charter of rights for Australia may seize on this suggestion as preferable to a statutory bill.

We do not see this non statutory model as an acceptable way of protecting human rights. We note that the NSW Legislation Review Committee was established in 2001 by the then Premier, Bob Carr, a vociferous opponent to bills or charters of rights.

While the NSW review process has had some success in raising awareness of human rights issues amongst members of parliament, its actual impact, particularly outside the parliament, has been relatively modest and it has contributed little to establishing a human rights culture in the NSW bureaucracy.

Peter Frank
April 21, 2007