Page 2218 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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and how governments are sometimes stampeded by law and order campaigns into feeling that there needs to be some sort of public response, usually involving the reduction of human rights somewhere, to these law and order calls. That is where it is extremely important—a point which was made in the public lecture to which Mr Corbell referred—to have parliamentary scrutiny committees which are well resourced, as is mentioned in this report, and to have an independent chair, perhaps even an opposition member, as we have in the ACT.
But the members have to have an interest in human rights. There must be on such committees people who are interested in human rights and who are prepared to put those difficult questions to executive government as the need arises, as occurs from time to time when human rights are addressed, even in the context of a human rights act. As I said earlier, it is very good to have a human rights act. The difficult test for all governments is in keeping all of those aspects of human rights which are said to be protected in the act. That is where issues such as compatibility statements and proportionality statements are important as well. They need to be developed by independent authorities so that parliamentarians who are responsible for the scrutiny of executive government can respond properly to any moves to change human rights.
I must say that, having attended this conference, I am more convinced than ever that the spread of human rights acts across jurisdictions in Australia will be extremely good for this country. I think, though, that there has to be a big effort to ensure that the scrutiny processes within the parliaments are independent enough to protect the human rights which the human rights acts set out to do.
I note that Gabrielle McKinnon from the ACT was also in attendance at the conference. She raised an important aspect of dealing with human rights which has emerged in the ACT public service; that is, making sure that across the public service there is an acute awareness of the human rights that need to be protected out there in the community. It takes some time for this culture to grow, but it really means that there needs to be an effort to ensure that the culture within our public service and across the community is well developed. If it is not, there is not a wide understanding and a wide acceptance of the need to protect human rights out there in the community. So I go back to the point that I made a little earlier, that it is all right to have a human rights act, but there is a lot of work to do to make sure that it sticks. That involves not only the parliament but also the public service and the community at large.
Finally, at the time I saw this conference being advertised I thought that it was a good time for it to happen, but I did not realise that it could coincide with the emergence of the legislation in Victoria. Of course, there is now talk about the same occurring in other states. I think that those delegates that attended the conference from jurisdictions right across Australia will be better equipped to scrutinise human rights legislation across the country as a result of their attendance at the assembly. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to have been there.
Motion (by Mrs Dunne) put:
That the question be now put.
The Assembly voted—
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