[LINK] Human rights must not be party political

[Rick Welykochy]

Ben McGinnes wrote:

> Human rights must not be party political
> Emily Howie and Phil Lynch
> December 13, 2010
>
> The new government is in danger of taking a regressive step.
[SNIP]

> In his Human Rights Week address last week, the state Attorney-General,
> Robert Clark, spoke for the first time about his plans for the Victorian
> charter. While stopping short of saying he will repeal it, the attorney
> described the charter as ''riddled with flaws'', saying that it ''could
> not continue in its current form''. It will be reviewed next year.

It is good to see this important issue being discussed.

To prevent what seems to be political interference in the existing
Bill of Rights in Victoria, it is important that we now move towards
a national bill enshrined in the constitution.

As observed by the Howie, "Because government is legally bound to comply
with human rights, and sometimes this does not happen, people have gone to
court to enforce their rights under the charter. This has led to fair and
commonsense outcomes that are important to the lives of ordinary people involved."

Outcomes that are often inconvenient for the government and can
may shine a negative light on its dealings with the citizenry.
I suspect this is at the root of comments made by AG Clark along the
lines of ""riddled with flaws". Why can't it continue in its current
form? A very strong case must be made before defanging this legislation.
Perhaps such decisions should be left to the we the people.

cheers
rickw



-- 
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Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

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