Page 186 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 December 2008
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This is something on which there needs to be the will of governments around the world to act. There are times when governments do need to act to protect vulnerable citizens in other nations, and we see from time to time that that needs to be done. In fact, we saw, without a UN resolution, in the former Yugoslavia, NATO coming in to protect human rights in the former Yugoslavia, in defence of the people of Kosovo. We have seen so many times in the world the last 10, 20 and, in fact, 60 years, where individual regimes have fallen short. So we do need to continue to be diligent in protecting human rights.
We have a very strong legal system in this country. There are always arguments about how we can make it better. In the Canberra Liberals we have some scepticism around bills of rights. We have some scepticism particularly where there is the possibility of the law-making power being handed over to judges. We believe judges are there to interpret and apply law; parliaments are there to make laws. Sometimes, particularly when we have constitutional bills of rights, but also potentially with legislated bills of rights, we see that right to make laws on behalf of the people blurred or taken away in some way, and that is where our concerns are.
But these are arguments at the margins. We all share the ideals that are in this charter. I certainly believe that Australia, for all its failings, has been a leader when it comes to human rights. If we compare the Australian experience—as I say, with some significant blemishes along the way—we see that Australians enjoy freedoms that most citizens of other countries do not enjoy. We enjoy the right to participate in our democracy. We enjoy the right to be protected by the law. We enjoy the right to due process. We enjoy all of these rights through a very strong legal system, through the rule of law being followed. We can always do better, but we should not forget that Australia is a place where human rights are largely respected, where average citizens are protected from injustice and where we do not see the kind of human rights violations that we have seen around the world and that, unfortunately, we are still seeing around the world.
I would like to thank Ms Bresnan for bringing forward this motion. It is a timely reminder. It is an opportune time to reflect on how far we have come—and we have come a long way. Australia, even in these 60 years, has come a long way. We can compare our treatment of our Indigenous people 60 years ago to how they are treated now. We have seen constitutional changes, we have seen legal changes, that have seen equal rights given to all of our people, whereas that was not the case before. So we have made progress. We have got a long way to go. With respect to how we treat our refugees and migrants, there have been mistakes in the past. Treatment of our refugees has been harsher than it should have been. I acknowledge that, and I believe that we are moving in the right direction in that regard. I think we can still go further to ensure that asylum seekers who come to Australia, within reasonable, lawful, orderly limits, are treated fairly and reasonably.
We all have a responsibility to promote human rights. We have a responsibility to build on this. We will have debates about how this is best implemented, as do all nations around the world. Rights balanced with responsibilities: it always needs to be looked at in that context. But this is a worthwhile motion. It is a motion that we support wholeheartedly, and we look forward to the ongoing dialogue to ensure that
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