Goodbye 2009 - where we’re at
22 December 2009, 11:12AM
Mary Kostakidis and Nicole Bieske with thousands of submissions received by Amnesty International
December marks a year since the Federal Government announced its public consultation on how people living in Australia want their human rights protected.
Throughout one of the most extensive public consultations in Australia's history, we heard personal stories from people who had witnessed or experienced human rights violations in Australia. The overwhelming feeling was that as a nation we can and should do better.
Of the 35,000 people who subsequently made submissions to the National Human Rights Consultation Committee, an overwhelming 29,150 were in favour of a Human Rights Act - over 80%!
As a result, in October 2009, the Committee recommended that the Federal Government not only adopt a Human Rights Act but also enhance a human rights culture through education, conduct an audit of federal legislation to ensure it is compliant with such an Act, strengthen the Australian Human Rights Commission and recognise the human rights of Indigenous Australians.
Amnesty International welcomed these findings but we are still waiting for the Government to act.
We continue to urge the Government to implement the recommendations and enact a Human Rights Act that protects civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights, not only to meet Australia’s international human rights obligations, but to better protect the rights of all Australians.
After all, history shows that self-regulation is not the best method and a ‘she’ll be right, mate’ approach does not protect the most vulnerable in our society.
So roll on 2010 when we'll be doing our best to keep human rights protection in Australia high on the agenda.
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