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ALHR welcomes Qld’s ‘historic’ human rights bill
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights has commended the Queensland government on its introduction of a Human Rights Bill, announced yesterday.
Emma Musgrave
The bill was tabled in State Parliament this week, with the aim to introduce a Human Rights Act for Queensland that will protect a “broad range of fundamental human rights”, as well as hold public entities responsible for protecting those rights.
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“This is a really exciting day for human rights in Australia,” chair of the National Human Rights Act Sub-Committee of ALHR, Emma Phillips, said when the news broke yesterday.
“While a Human Rights Act is never a panacea, it can offer important protection against some of the most flagrant human rights breaches, particularly those that infringe the rights of very vulnerable and disempowered people.
“The introduction of the Human Rights Bill represents significant progress in Queensland. With this landmark reform, the Queensland government is making a strong statement about the importance of human rights protection for all Queenslanders. Once enacted, this legislation will be instrumental in the development of a human rights culture in Queensland.”
ALHR president Kerry Weste noted Australia remains the “only western liberal democracy without a federal human rights act or charter of rights”, making this development that much more important.
“Australia has committed to protecting human rights by signing and ratifying a range of international human rights conventions, so the enactment of legislation which gives effect to those conventions is of both symbolic and practical importance,” Ms Weste said.
