Every person is precious

In Victoria it has, in fact, been the Parliament itself, and not the courts, that has been most active in considering if legislation is consistent with the basic human rights contained within the Charter. It is the job of The Scrutiny of Acts and Regulation Committee in the Victorian Parliament to assess how new legislation complies with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act. So far only one Bill put forward by the Victorian Government has been modified on the basis of comments made by the committee, although committee itself has recommended changes to 23 bills in order that they better comply with the Charter.

Having some form of Commonwealth human rights legislation would mean that the government (both the bureaucracy and the Federal Parliament) would have comprehensive legislation against which to assess their development of public policy rather than just the odd grab-bag of legislation that exists now (such as the Racial Discrimination Act). It is instructive (and may even be comforting to those who worry about such legislation) to note that the Parliament determined to override the Racial Discrimination Act in the development of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Legislation.

The Uniting Church believes that the process of developing an Australian human rights charter should begin with widespread and effective community and stakeholder consultation and we have committed ourselves to engage positively in any such public consultation. We look forward to the Government’s announcement of the consultation process.

There are many, many reasons why a national human rights charter would be good for Australia but, ultimately, the Uniting Church will support such an initiative because we believe that every person is precious and deserves a decent chance in life and because we believe that we have a deep and abiding responsibility to ensure that our society is based on principles of social justice and equity.