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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Tuesday, 2 March 2004) . . Page.. 516 ..

Scrutiny of legislation affecting the rights of people within the territory will also be improved with the creation of a new role for the Discrimination Commissioner. The newly-created Human Rights Commissioner not only will be vested with review functions, but also will be an educative position taking arguments and debates on the applicability of human rights into the broader community, informing and including people in the process.

There has been an exhaustive consultation process to get the bill before the Assembly in its final form. Some of the so-called second generation rights have not been included in this bill of rights. The economic, social and cultural rights of Canberrans remain at the core of government activity in the territory. It is true that the bill of rights in its current form does not address these issues, instead focusing on the civil and political rights contained in the ICCPR.

Many of the rights contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights remain close to my heart and close to the long term objectives of this government. The right to work, fair wages, gender equality in employment, safe and healthy work conditions, adequate leisure time, form trade unions, and equal opportunity in the workplace free of discriminations are all core values to the government in my portfolio of industrial relations. These values, even though not expressly contained in the bill of rights, do form the mission statement of this government’s industrial relations agenda.

Additionally, the government’s response to poverty and homelessness addresses directly the values of the ICESCR. Rights to adequate food, clothing and housing and the continuous improvement of living standards are a key part of the Canberra social plan, the living policy document of the ACT government’s directions. The government pursues the values of the ICESCR more completely than many other governments in this country.

On the matter of federal government actions and the bill of rights before us, I would like to draw the attention of the Assembly to the provisions contained in clauses 10 and 11, which relate to torture, inhumane treatment and the protection of the family and children. It is a shame that this bill of rights does not apply to the hundreds of asylum seekers who remain interned in detention centres in Australia, just as it is a shame that the federal government not only denies the need for the protection of rights in the community but also actively works to degrade and undermine them in practice.

I am starkly reminded of the comments of Justice Bhagwati, special envoy for Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, who visited Australia’s detention centres not that long ago. Justice Bhagwati said of the conditions he saw and the people he met:

They were prisoners without having committed any offence. Their only fault was that they had left their native home and sought to find refuge or a better life on Australian soil. In virtual prison like conditions in the detention centre, they lived initially in hope that soon their incarceration will come to an end but with the passage of time, the hope gave way to despair.

People will question why there is a need for legislation of this sort in a community like Canberra. Many people thought that the terms and descriptions employed by Justice

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