Protecting Australians' rights

I often hear the argument against a federal Charter of Rights that human rights are already adequately protected in Australia. As I have illustrated, people who can't see the gaps in rights protection just aren't looking.

Australia is the only democratic nation without a Charter of Rights.

Yet opponents of a Charter of Rights say that Australia is different to countries which introduced charters after periods of conflict or in response to the growing influence of European human rights law.

That is not the point.

The point is that, like all other countries, people in Australia have human rights. And like people in all other democratic nations, our human rights should be protected and respected.