Page 812 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 1990
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MR MOORE: Well, that is right, but Labor is not in government so I am not in the business of criticising it just now. I did that last time.
Mr Jensen: You have got to remember, Michael, Labor members had their opportunity.
MR MOORE: Yes; I think that is a good point and quite right of you to raise it.
Mrs Grassby: Just get on with the job.
MR MOORE: But let us remember that Mr Collaery in particular, who has put himself up as a champion of human rights in a particular area of migration, must work on this matter and be seen to be doing so.
I would also urge the Attorney-General to ensure that in his own dealings with the people around him - and I hope he understands what I am referring to - he deals with them in a way that is empathetic and recognises their human rights - particularly the people whom he employs.
The issue of human rights particularly affects women and it also affects an area of interest to me - education. If government policies in education encourage people to use the private school system more and more, the state school system will become second rate. Then people will tend to be separated, in terms of those who have more access to mobility in our society and those who have less access. That is a denial of a basic human right.
I urge Mr Humphries, in his capacity as Minister for Education to ensure that he does not set up a situation - by funding in particular and other government actions - in which parents feel that the only way their children will get a reasonable education is through the private school system. That, by its very nature, disadvantages those who are left in the state school system. As Minister for Education, you must take that factor into consideration. I have no doubt that you will consider it very seriously as an important part of your portfolio.
MR SPEAKER: Chief Minister, I advise you that unless a suspension of standing orders is intended, this debate concludes at 6.52 pm.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (6.49): I will just about make it, Mr Speaker. Somehow there seems to be a popular misconception that the term human rights is synonymous with antidiscrimination, and much of the debate this afternoon was focused on that. The two, of course, are related in the sense that discrimination frequently involves the curtailing of basic human rights. But when we think of human rights, we should be thinking of things like the protection of civil liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom for the ageing to live in serenity and freedom for the disabled to enjoy their lives to the full.
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