Greens renew push for NSW Bill of Rights
With the State election just months away, Greens MLC David Shoebridge announced his party’s renewed push for a Bill of Rights in NSW on Thursday morning. The Greens have been amongst those campaigning nationally for a charter of rights for years, but until now debate in the NSW parliament has been silenced by both major party’s with neither supporting the legislation. The Greens are hoping that this trend will be reversed as a new Government is elected later this year.
“Australia is one the few advanced democracies in the world that does not enshrine its citizens’ rights to essential freedoms in a core bill of rights” said Mr. Shoebridge, “without a bill of rights, we give a far freer rein to governments of all political colours to bit by bit limit our capacity to express dissent, to organise and to protest.”
Mr. Shoebridge knows this better than most, a lawyer by trade, he has first hand experience defending peoples rights from abuse. Currently Australian citizens have very few rights actually codified into law, a factor which has caused concern in the legal community. Currently; bar a few exceptions, what constitutes a “right” is often left to the discretion of a judge. This void allows Governments to impose laws that violate the rights and freedoms that we assume to have, for example the effect ‘Anti-Terrorism’ legislation has had on freedom of speech.
Mr. Shoebridge stated that his proposed charter of rights will be far-reaching, covering not only civil, and political rights, but the human rights, such as the right to food and shelter. A factor that could cause difficulties if it leaves a Government open to legal attack, by the homeless for example.
GetUp National Director, Sam McLean, a veteran ‘Bill of Rights’ campaigner, told City Hub that he looks forward to the coming debate in NSW over the legislation. He advised the Government that “what we need is a well-funded consultation that reaches out to NSW residents — especially the disadvantaged — and makes sure the resulting legislation both addresses the community’s needs and has plenty of community buy-in.”
The NSW Attorney-General, however, remains skeptical of the need for a Charter of Rights in NSW, and is concerned that it could impede parliamentary sovereignty. A spokesperson for the NSW Attorney General, John Hatzistergos, told City Hub that “any proposal that that potentially threatens [parliamentary sovereignty] deserves to be treated with caution”, she continued “rights are best protected through the checks and balances of parliamentary democracy and a free press.”
Mr. Shoebridge was joined by Leichart Mayor Jamie Parker, and Greens leader Bob Brown. Mr. Brown confirmed that the Greens would be renewing their calls for a Federal Bill of Rights, but did not put a time-frame on when this would happen.
by Kieran Adair
