Page 3309 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I think that is a very important point. Those of us who have worked in this place—certainly it is my experience through this term and that of others who perhaps have been here longer—have seen the way that the dialogue model used in the ACT raises the bar. It is a constant consideration right from the level of the directorates when the legislation is being formulated through to the legislation being presented to the Assembly and then in the scrutiny process. That constant questioning forces all of us to reflect on whether legislation is the best it could be when it comes to respecting human rights.
With that as a strong basis for looking at expanding the Human Rights Act, the government instigated a report into the potential for the act to be extended to include economic, social and cultural rights. As members will be aware, in 2010 the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University presented the Attorney-General with a report on the findings of the ACT economic, social and cultural rights research project. The overall conclusion of the report was that the inclusion of ESCR, as it is commonly known, guarantees in the Human Rights Act is desirable and feasible and that the act should be amended to include most of the ESCR contained in the international covenant on economic and social rights to which Australia is party.
The government’s response has been to pursue the right just to education rather than the suite as proposed in the 2010 report. That approach has no doubt frustrated the authors of that report, and it has certainly left us somewhat surprised and perhaps, to an extent, frustrated. In arguing their case, the government have suggested an incremental approach is wise. They argue for a slow and steady approach. However, we also have at our disposal the five-year review which, as I have spoken about, shows that the Human Rights Act is working well, making a difference and certainly not creating bottlenecks in our courts.
The Greens would have preferred the government to implement the full suite of economic and social rights. We have been briefed by the government and took a read of the temperature and saw the appetite was not there for that bold step. As disappointing as this timidity is, we will nonetheless be supporting the initiative put forward today.
Education is of crucial importance to Australia’s future, not only to individual children being educated and their chances in life but also to the sort of economy Australia wants to develop in the future. It was immensely disappointing this week to see the national debate about the future of education in this country descend once again into an exercise in political positioning, yet somehow it was not surprising. If we are to prepare Australia for the challenges of the 21st century, if we are to be a clever nation, an innovative nation, and a fair nation, we need to make sure every child in the country has the same opportunities for a high quality school education, regardless of how much money their parents have or where they live. We need a significant investment in education to ensure that our schools, especially those which educate our most disadvantaged kids, are adequately resourced to be able to do the job properly. My colleague Senator Penny Wright noted this week:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video