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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Tuesday, 2 March 2004) . . Page.. 444 ..

All the evidence suggests that you have become too distracted with “hobby-horses”, and have failed to deal with the real issues involved in running this city, and protecting your citizens.

That was from just one citizen.

Mr Speaker, I and the opposition believe there is absolutely no need for a bill of rights in the ACT. Our rights are more than adequately protected. They are protected by convention, they are protected by one of the most democratic and one of the strongest democratic systems in the world. They are protected, too, by the provisions in many of our acts of parliament.

Our traditions and our conventions go right back to Magna Carta in 1215 and they have been enhanced and enshrined over the centuries. Our basic rights have also been protected by our acts of parliament, and these range from the constitution which governs us in this country through to such things like the Crimes Act in the territory.

Our fundamental rights and our freedoms are protected by constitutionally entrenched provisions, the electoral laws, laws governing such things as just terms for compulsory acquired property, jury trial, freedom of religion, the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and numerous rights covering accused persons and prisoners. You just have to go to, I think, parts 10 to 13 of the Crimes Act, which contain provisions and restrictions in relation to police powers of search, arrest, investigation, the gathering of evidence and other issues such as the admissibility of evidence and fitness to plead.

Our statutes, our common law and our conventions also protect the right to privacy, to freedom of movement, the right to a fair trial, freedom of peaceful assembly, democratically elected governments through a secret ballot process, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the right to own and acquire property. Through the actions of various governments over the last century and through legislation, other rights, such as the right to social welfare, the right to proper standards in the workplace, the right to rest and leisure, the right to an education, rights centring around the protection of children, the right to a clean environment and rights governing equality between all people in Australia have been guaranteed.

If you want to see a recent example of rights protected by statute, you just need to look at the Discrimination Act 1991, which sets out in detail protections against discrimination. The breadth of protection covered in this act can be seen in section 7, which precludes discrimination on grounds ranging from sex, race and age through to status as a parent or carer. Indeed, if anything, there are probably many people in our society who feel that our laws put far too much emphasis on the rights of individuals and not enough emphasis on the responsibilities of individuals. People, for example, often say that there is too much emphasis on the rights of the criminal and not enough regard to the rights of society and the victim. Our rights are further enhanced and updated through the passing of new legislation and also as conventions continue to mature over time.

One of the most fundamental rights is our right to vote and our ability to throw out a government that is not performing, and regular elections ensure this fundamental right.

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