[LINK] UN declares that the right to privacy, including online privacy, is a human right

[Jan Whitaker]

At 08:49 AM 18/12/2013, Frank O'Connor wrote:

>And how far is that likely to go with our new Human Rights 
>Commissioner?            :)

This is going to be interesting to watch, for sure. I'm not a Wilson 
fan by any means. He's rude, brash, extremely opinionated and 
close-minded. He's often on Friday morning ABC Melbourne radio in a 
head to head with a 'Labor' end of the spectrum person. He's an 
ideolog, or comes across that way in that forum. BUT I just heard him 
on ABC in an interview. The above characteristics still exist, but he 
may find that in a commission he will not just be talking to the wind 
and in his own echo chamber like the IPA. The work the HRC does will 
have *real* consequences to real human beings. It won't all be theory 
and ideology any more. He's going to have to balance those range of 
rights. He did say that the proposed code of conduct for refugees 
proposed by Morrison/Brandis et al should not be outside the 
boundaries of Australian law, which I thought was a reasonable 
position and not in line with the govt position. (Having said that, 
he and the govt may want to have a think about jurisdiction, since 
the 'code' is about refugees who are shunted off to *non* Australian 
places, and the laws there are what would take precedence, not 
Australian law. Morrison cannot have it both ways.)

I think this is a wait and see. I believe in free speech, freedom of 
association (Queensland bikie laws, anyone?), freedom of religion 
(including none; Kevin Andrews, anyone?), and all those values in the 
UN declaration. We'll have to see if Mr. Wilson can manage the 
inconsistencies with his political masters and how Independent he really is.


>Non-issue for Australians I'm afraid ... we no longer have any human rights.

Perhaps. We can still tell our politicians to go jump in that great 
big lake! Ask the North Koreans how that's dealt with up there......

It will also be interesting to see if Brandis takes on the security 
establishment and this new declaration.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how 
do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
~Margaret Atwood, writer

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