Victorian Rights Charter- a cop out . : Melbourne Indymedia

Victorian Rights Charter- a cop out .

The recent announcement by the Victorian Labor party that Victoria may have a so called rights charter by 2007 is actually hogwash.

We have in Australia , the old English system of “parliamentary supremacy” which the courts have interpreted to mean “absolute , uncontrollable despotic power” (1) . However, England, having ratified the European Convention on rights, allows its citizens to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. We have no such protection here, as the UN Human Rights Committee has been ignored consistently.

The Victorian proposal mirrors that of the ACT bill and the English Human Rights Act. Rights will not be enforceable by the people. It will just be a statement of principles out of reach by citizens. No doubt conservatives will jump for joy if it is accepted by the public as good enough , because nothing will change and it will be business as usual.

Being a statutory charter, any act passed at a later date inconsistent with it will be deemed to have overridden those rights indirectly, implicitly or explicitly (2) .

These sorts of false charters are designed to placate the public and lull them into a false sense of security about their rights and freedoms, but these rights will remain an illusion unless at a federal level a bill of rights is enshrined in our constitution and the word, and principles of democracy are actually written into it as well.

A system that does not allow citizens to have enforceable rights cannot be called democratic , and the term citizen will count for naught , for we will remain “subjects” to the whim of those who pay the way for our politicians.

(1) Kartinyeri v The Commonwealth [1998] HCA 22 and pars [12], [13]
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1998/22.html

(2) (ibid) pars {9} , [57] , [67] , [87] , [174]

Pat Coleman
15 Ethel st Hyde Park (Townsville) Qld
ph 0747240736 Mob 0439839121
email: howardsafreak@hotmail.com