[LINK] Telstra attacks human rights record

Bernard Robertson-Dunn brd at iimetro.com.au
Mon Feb 16 12:23:51 AEDT 2009


Telstra attacks human rights record
Paul Maley
February 16, 2009
The Australian IT
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25060093-15306,00.html

Telstra has launched an extraordinary attack on Australia's human rights 
record, citing the Howard government practice of keeping children in 
detention as a reason why a charter of rights is needed.

In a submission to the national human rights consultation panel, the 
country's largest telecommunications company wholeheartedly endorses a 
charter, arguing it would "provide greater clarity about the protection 
of human rights in Australia".

Telstra argues the principles of responsible government and the common 
law - which opponents of a charter say adequately ensure people's rights 
- are a "soft" foundation upon which to base protections.

So too is the emasculated principle of ministerial responsibility, which 
has failed to ensure ministers take personal responsibility for 
government "excess", the telco writes.

Nor can the prospect of regular judgment of the electorate adequately 
protect the citizenry.

"The more responsive but equally unsatisfactory notion of responsibility 
to parliaments - the slim convention of ministerial responsibility - is 
also no substitute for clearly articulated, enshrined, human rights 
protections."

Telstra argues there has been an erosion of rights and freedoms, warning 
there "is no guarantee that these rights will not be further eroded in 
years to come".

In a swipe at the Howard government, with which Telstra had a rocky 
relationship, the company takes issue with John Howard's 2000 claim that 
Australia's human rights record was "quite magnificent".

"There have been several well-publicised infringements of human rights 
in Australia, including amongst them, the incarceration of children in 
immigration facilities," says the submission.

"The available data suggests that Australia's human rights record does 
not compare overwhelmingly favourably with other countries."

Telstra's lodged the submission last October. Its relationship with the 
Rudd Government has been under strain following the company's exclusion 
from the national broadband network tender.

In December, the Government appointed a panel headed by Jesuit 
intellectual Frank Brennan to begin a nationwide consultation process on 
how best to protect and promote rights. So far about 10,000 submissions 
have been received, although Father Brennan said the majority had come 
via the activist group GetUp!

Telstra says a charter could also help redress the "racist" 
underpinnings of the Constitution, which it said had failed to protect 
indigenous Australians from official injustices.

Telstra notes the Constitution's racist principles - the "races power" 
and the exclusion of indigenous people from the census - were excised by 
referenda. The company goes on to suggest Australia should model its 
charter on the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948.

Yesterday, Father Brennan declined to comment on the observations and 
recommendations offered by Telstra, but welcomed the "cogency and 
substance" of the submission. "I was surprised that a corporate entity 
was as emphatic as they were," he said.

When asked yesterday why Telstra had dealt itself into a debate so far 
removed from its normal sphere of operations, a company spokesman 
declined to comment, saying the submission could speak for itself.

However, Telstra says in its submission that apart from a general 
concern for human rights, the company is particularly interested in 
values such as due process and free speech, "given the highly regulated 
nature of much of its business".

-- 
 
Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au




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