Page 2681 - Week 12 - Thursday, 16 November 1989
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political rights. For example, I point out article 24, subparagraph 1, which says:
Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.
I almost know those off by heart. I have been working with this convention for years. Further, article 23 says:
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
It goes on to say - and I am sure Mr Berry would like to hear this - that everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his own and - for Mr Berry's sake - his correspondence. It does not appear to have been very private lately with the interim hospital board. Anyway, there are other provisions and subprovisions and there is, of course, a further convention that already extends some of this matter. It is the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights.
Australia has subscribed to a succession of instruments, and this current draft brings together some of that and expands it. In international law, generally speaking, these instruments impose obligations on the state. They do not impose obligations on the individual. They do not impose any obligations on me as a parent. I have never been able to control my children anyway. There is a total misconception of legal interpretation here. How could it be proposed that this convention sets up rights in parents, or in children, in opposition to each other? It imposes obligations on the state.
I will give you an example, as Mr Moore correctly interpreted, and that is the use of children in human wave assaults. I have been personally involved in investigating and assessing these issues. Of course, I could speak at length about the Australian Government's failure - the Hawke Government's failure - to move decisively several years ago when I personally sought, as the chairman of a refugee committee, a government committee, to get some help for a number of youngsters who were in difficulty in Iran. No assistance came forward, and the exchange of cables between me and our charge there make pathetic reading. I will be referring to that next Tuesday evening.
Another matter is that of income support policies. The requirement to deal with children equitably and equally has significant implications in terms of administrative consistency on income support programs. As we know, I think it is youngsters under 17, or 15 or 16, who do not receive benefits. I am not going to comment on that. All
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