Page 1564 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 March 2012
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The feedback was clear: Canberrans as a whole value human rights and feel that economic, social and cultural rights should be protected and included in the act. I would like to thank all the individuals and organisations that provided feedback through the consultation process.
As members would be aware, the government has, this morning, introduced a bill that supports the inclusion in the Human Rights Act of the right to education. The Greek sage Epictetus said, “Only the educated are free.” I apologise if I got that wrong. Through this response the government is doing more than talking about freedom; it is taking action. It is acting decisively for our children, for our children’s children and for the general betterment of the territory. It is acting not only to introduce a new right but is doing so in a way that strengthens our existing protections.
For example, the right to vote depends on a person being able to read the ballot and understand what their vote means. Education is behind much of what we often take for granted. This year is the national year of reading and it was interesting to learn that in the last data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics nearly half the adult population in Australia struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work.
I would ask members of the Assembly to imagine for a moment the challenges that come from not having reading or writing skills necessary to carry out these everyday tasks: to read a newspaper, to follow a recipe, to make sense of bus timetables or to understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
The ACT has worked consistently to ensure that we have the highest level of adult literacy in Australia. The right to education has been chosen for initial inclusion in the Human Rights Act in recognition that education is a fundamental building block for a civil and prosperous society. It is the key to enhancing future opportunities for individuals and our community. It is a basic right that we hold dear but which we often take for granted in our community.
The Hon Michael Kirby said in a speech on public education in 2009:
What a debt Australia owes to the founders of public education. They had to face strong opposition at the time … Public education had to negotiate compromises … endure the scoffing of those who thought that education was properly a privilege only for the wealthy and that public schools were the dire results of “socialism”. But in the late 19th century, a great movement swept Australia to establish the public education system. It was a movement that coincided with Australia’s advance to federation. It was anchored in three great principles stated in the early Public Education Acts. It would be free, compulsory, and secular.
I am committed, and this government is committed, to upholding these three principles. The ACT already meets its international obligations for the right to education. By legislating for that right in our Human Rights Act, the ACT will reinforce it and ensure that every child will always have access to free primary education appropriate to their needs. Our children will reap the benefit of our courage in committing to fulfilling their inherent right to education.
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