Page 811 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 1990
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I believe that Mr Collaery genuinely has empathy with human rights matters, but that does not mean that he does not, at some stage or another, because of his great workload, forget some aspect of those human rights or that his own particular emphasis on human rights should actually affect his view of how the whole human rights area should operate in the ACT.
This is particularly important in relation to the concept of legislation. Legislation is very important and it is important that very good legislation should be brought in. I believe that, by and large, Mr Collaery will bring in very good legislation in due time - - -
Mr Collaery: Thanks mate, I will shake hands on that!
MR MOORE: Oh yes - I give credit where it is due! This will not last long, I am coming to the other part soon! It is most important to understand that to the people who are disadvantaged the courts are not the answer. The legislation is important, but generally it gets to the courts too late.
Sometimes it is impossible for the courts to be able to deal with situations and I will use the example of people who are currently sentenced to spend time in gaol. In many cases there is a great fear that prison sentences are not what they were a few years ago before the advent of HIV and AIDS. A prison sentence for somebody these days can be a sentence - at least to be put at risk of contracting AIDS. There are issues like that which the courts are wrestling with and which they will have to deal with.
Equality and human rights are about dignity and self concept - a person's ability to be able to look on himself or herself as worthwhile, to be able to be seen to be equal. If we look back at the sort of discrimination that we have seen in Australia in the past, particularly with the Aborigines and a whole range of migrants, we should look to the way that we act, not just in terms of legislation, although that plays its role, but also in terms of having an accessible facility for people who are disadvantaged and basically do not know where to go.
Hence we need, if you like, a shopfront version. I am not telling the Government how to come up with its version. There has been a suggestion about the human rights commission. We need something like that and we need it quickly. I guess that is the point that comes out of this rather strong statement that the Labor Party has made. Let me urge this Alliance Government to move quickly - much more quickly than it has over the last 100 or so days; and I grant it that takes - - -
Mr Kaine: Much more quickly than Labor did in seven months.
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