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

[Frank O'Connor]

I'm thinking you're an incurable optimist, Jan

A couple of years back, he and the IPA were actively advocating destroying the Human Rights Commission when it failed to act on behalf of Andrew Bolt after his slanderous, libellous and unsubstantiated allegations against a number of aboriginal advocates.

Now (rather hypocritically I'd say) he accepts the job to head the Commission (with its $330,000 annual salary ... which I'd suggest eased the hypocrisy factor a bit) he advocated doing away with.

Not someone I'd be confident has the principles and integrity to do the job.

And ... aside from being conservatively opinionated and a stirrer, what were Tim Wilson's other qualifications for the job? What academic qualifications does he hold? What work experience has he had in the field?

No ... I'm thinking Brandis has just entered a tick against the HRC as a body that won't bother him or the government over the next few years with little numbers like the treatment of refugees and Australia's obligations under the UN Refugee Charter or anything to do with how the government treats it citizens, the disabled and impoverished and vulnerable, or even minorities (and yes, I know Tim Wilson is gay).

Just my 2 cents worth ...
---
On 18 Dec 2013, at 9:14 am, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at internode.on.net> wrote:

> 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
> 
> _ __________________ _
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link