Importance Of Bill Of Rights In Australia

These include freedom of opinion, thought, association and freedom from arbitrary detention and are all about treating others fairly and being fairly treated yourself, and making genuine choices in daily life. Wilson says ‘Respect for human rights underpins the democratic processes of our society and is the cornerstone of a society that respects individuals and voluntary community collaboration’ (Tim Wilson, 2014). Despite this, the control the Australian Government exercised over its people in WWII encroached on all of these universally recognized human rights, and it was in 1948 after the atrocity of WWII that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was internationalised.

There are many arguments for and against the bill of rights. Oppositions argues that Australia is already one of the freest countries in the world. We have ensured the rights of our citizen enough that we do not need to set out citizen’s rights to provide protection for them. The government have developed a system of protection of rights using both legislation and Common Law that cover many of the rights of the people. Australia have adopted and developed a system of government where the parliament is supreme. The parliament consists of elected representatives who represent all of the people and pass laws in line with the will of the people. The rights of the people should be

Good afternoon, my name is Stephanie Jones and I am a currently a human rights lawyer. Human rights are the basic freedoms and protections that everyone is entitled to purely for simply just being a human being. Today I would like to use this opportunity to discuss with you the greatly debated issue of an Australian Bill of Rights. Australia currently does not have a Bill of Rights, but is the current legal system coping without one? The answer to that question in my opinion is no. Australia currently is not adequately protecting individual human rights without having a Bill of Rights. While many people would argue that yes, Australia protects individual rights well enough as it is, just as many people passionately argue that Australia does indeed need a Bill of Rights for a variety of reasons which will be talked about in greater depth later on. In my talk with you today, I would like to discuss with you all what exactly a Bill of Rights is and what it aims to achieve, how a Bill of Rights has worked in other countries and some of the more popular arguments for and against having one.

In the Australian constitution the Queen holds the executive power and also has legislative power. The Governor General is appointed by the Queen and is also the commander-in-chief. Another difference between the two countries is the Australian judicature. The High Court of Australia does not have the power of judicial review. Ultimately, in Australia the parliament and the prime minister have the complete power.

This has come from the Australian community and international human rights monitors who have stated that “There are still areas in which the domestic legal system does not provide an effective remedy to persons whose rights under the [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] have been violated … [Australia] should take measures to give effect to all Covenant rights and freedoms.” There hasn’t only been a recent push for a Bill of Rights, Former Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason wrote in 1997 that “Australia's adoption of a Bill of Rights would bring Australia in from the cold, so to speak, and make directly applicable the human rights jurisprudence which has developed internationally and elsewhere. That is an important consideration in that our isolation from that jurisprudence means that we do not have what is a vital component of other constitutional and legal systems, a component which has a significant impact on culture and thought, and is an important ingredient in the emerging world order that is reducing the effective choices open to the nation state”. Brian Galligan who is an academic expert on citizenship stated that “the old confidence in the effectiveness of parliamentary responsible government and the common law for protecting human rights has been undermined by more realistic accounts of the weakness of parliament and the increasingly residual domain of common law compared with the plethora of statutory laws.” The answer to whether Australia needs to adopt a Bill of Rights in order to protect Australian citizens is simple… yes and

The “Bill of rights” has been devise as a follow-up to Parliament's earliest Habeas Corpus bill, which guard personal freedom and liberty. Now almost every colony had a bill of rights. The Bill of Rights is a situated of limits on the vitality of the administration. Firstly, the Bill

The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities: Does it Protect and Uphold Human Rights?

The Bill of Rights became a very important document in the United States Constitution in order to ensure United States citizens equal protection of their rights and liberties. The main objective of the Bill of rights was to place limits on the national government creating an understanding and dividing the powers between the states and the national government. Not all the powers were granted to the national government however not all the powers were prohibited to the states. As stated by Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir & Tolbert (2015) the bill of rights consists of 10 amendments incorporated in the U.S constitution. It is important to note that each amendment contains a legal court case in which the supreme court as well as the government have ruled and have ignored or have protected the rights of the individuals involved.

The Canadian Charter of Rights has been entrenched in the Constitution Act of 1982 since 1982 and affected the lives of countless Canadians ever since it was passed, with most if not all of the effects being positive. This can be proven by the fact that the act that the act has only faced two amendments in the 35 years it has been in effect. Furthermore, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has five components; Fundamental Freedoms, Democratic Rights, Mobility Rights, Legal Rights, and Equality Rights. All of these were designed to make sure that Canadians face no discrimination, and are not denied any basic rights. This can be seen by seeing how much the quality of life for Canadians has increased over the time the Charter has been embedded in the Constitution, by how much the Charter actually does protect the rights of Canadians.

Despite the international prominence of human rights laws, Australia remains the only Western democracy without either a constitutionally entrenched or legislative bill of rights. Human rights can be defined as inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms that all individuals are inherently entitled to. Although human rights are protected to an extent through domestic legislation, the common law, the doctrine of the separation of powers, the rule of law, the Australian

In 1901 when the Constitution was first written, Aboriginals were mentioned in it twice and Torres Strait Islander not at all. The federal government could not make laws for Aboriginals in section 57 of the Constitution. Also, Aboriginals were not counted in the Census in Section 127 of the Constitution. Life was very difficult for Aboriginals for several decades because of these two sections.

Question: How have human rights been introduced into Australian law? What advantages or disadvantages would a constitutional bill of rights have in the Australian legal system?

A Bill of Rights would educate Australians about human rights, in turn promoting a culture of tolerance, understanding and respect for human rights (State Library of NSW 2005, p.9). Kirby (1995, p. 281) asserts there is a distinct lack of awareness amongst school children about human rights; therefore a Bill of Rights will educate citizens about the fundamentals of the rights of an Australian, in turn contributing to the national identity. A Bill of Rights would encourage and foster “the growth of Australian culture of rights protection” (Williams 2001, p. 791). McGarrity (2009, p. 14) argues that human rights discourses have become the province of academics and politicians, so educating the public will allow the Australian community, with its diverse, multicultural

Unlike most similar liberal democracies (most exemplary, the United States of America), Australia has no bill of rights to protect human rights in a single document. Instead, these rights are found in common law precedent and

Australia protects human rights through current lawful processes including the Constitution, legislation and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For one, the Australian Constitution was established in 1901, being a document that lists a set of rules by which a country or state is operated. Amongst other principles, the Constitution outlines five explicit