Page 3583 - Week 12 - Thursday, 20 September 1990
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discussion and referendums, we formed the Australian Constitution Act, which unfortunately many people refer to as the Constitution. It is, of course, just part of the Constitution.
The safeguards included what is called a lower house and an upper house in most parliaments. They included the right of the Crown to disallow legislation within one year of that legislation being passed by parliament. They also included the right of an appeal to the Privy Council. It is interesting to note that that right of appeal was removed in 1986.
Mr Connolly: Long overdue.
MR STEVENSON: I note that Mr Terry Connolly of the Labor Party indicates that the removal of the right to appeal to the Privy Council was long overdue, in his consideration. I will return to that point shortly.
I think we should look at how UN treaties work as we look at this UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The reason that so many people who understand the facts of UN treaties are concerned about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is that this and other UN treaties are able to be passed into law in Australia without full and open parliamentary debate. It is worthwhile looking at the fact that Australia was one of the co-signatories of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Hardly anybody knew that - certainly people within parliament and certain others, and hardly any of the people of Australia to whom this and other UN conventions apply. The Attorney-General for New South Wales, the Honourable John Dowd, recorded in New South Wales Hansard on 16 November last year:
I suspect more than 16 million of Australia's 16.5 million people do not even know it exists.
If this is an indication of parliamentary democracy I think it is relevant that more people understand that we do not have one.
Once the politicians in the Federal arena decide what is good for Australians, without reference to them, by agreeing within themselves that we should have a particular UN treaty, the matter is then signed, but it does not have to be debated in parliament beforehand. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was signed just a few short weeks ago even though, as I mentioned, most people in Australia are absolutely unaware of its existence.
Once the convention has been signed it can be introduced in Australia by ratification. This once required parliamentary debate on the passage of an Act, but it no longer does. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986, part III, section 47(1) indicates that the Federal Minister may, by process of notification in the Government Gazette, bring about the ratification of a
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