Brennan to head human rights consultation

Professor of law Jesuit priest and lawyer Frank Brennan, committed long-term fence sitter".

The Federal Government will appoint a four-member panel, headed by Jesuit priest and lawyer Frank Brennan, to consult with the public on strengthening human rights laws in Australia - including through a charter of rights.

Speaking on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights last night, Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced the Government's decision in his address to the Evatt Foundation at the University of Sydney.

Mr McClelland will officially announce this morning that Father Brennan will head the panel which he says will consider a wide range of human rights issues, including whether Australia should have a bill of rights.

"I expect there will be robust discussion on a broad range of possibilities," he said.

"Some will be in favour of change, some will be in favour of the status quo, some will suggest other enhancements.

"Whatever views are out there, I think it's paramount that the consultation hears from as many Australians as possible, with attitudes and views right across the country and right across the spectrum."

Father Brennan is a professor of law at the Australian Catholic University.

Father Brennan said in a speech earlier this year he was a "committed long-term fence sitter" on whether Australia should have a bill of rights and whether it should be included in the constitution.

The Government is seeking a seat on the UN Security Council and Mr McClelland says the Government is committed to improving human rights in Australia and further strengthening its relationship with the United Nations.

"We acknowledge that the United Nations is not perfect," he said.

"However, we see absolutely no value in sniping at international institutions from the spectator stands."

The Government is also planning to sign up to the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Mr McClelland says it may also introduce anti-torture legislation.

"Given the nature of torture we are considering an offence of extra-territorial application, consistent with the treatment of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under domestic law," he said.

"Within Australia and internationally we are working to help eliminate the use of torture, wherever it occurs and whoever commits it."

Updated: 11:14am (AEDT)

McClelland names human rights consultation panel

Former television news presenter Mary Kostakidis, barrister Tammy Williams and former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer will join Jesuit priest Frank Brennan on a Government consultation panel on whether the country needs a charter of rights.

The panel, announced by Attorney-General Robert McClelland, will advise the Government on the [alleged] community's views on Australia's human rights policies and laws.

Mary Kostakidis used to present SBS television news and has worked with the Drug and Alcohol Council of Australia and is on the board of the Fred Hollows Foundation.

Tammy Williams is a Queensland barrister who is a director on the Board of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships.

Mick Palmer served for seven years as Australian Federal Police Commissioner and also oversaw the inquiry into the case of Cornelia Rau, who was wrongly held in immigration in 2004.

Quote: Talk about a one sided selection of religious right wing fanatics from the ruling class, hey, what about peasants? Don't they rate?

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Fed welfare plan discrimitary: NT council

Going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling: NT council of gov schools

The Federal Government plan to link school attendance to welfare payments is discriminatory, according to a peak Northern Territory education group.

Legislation passed by Federal Parliament will see some parents lose Centrelink payments for 13 weeks, if their children miss too much school.

The plan will be trialed in eight regions next year, including six Aboriginal communities in the Territory.

Michael Duffy from the N-T Council of Government Schools has said punishing parents isn't the way to go.

"They haven't discussed it with anybody, they haven't gone out and talked about how do you come to grips with this attendance business, what's school about?

"We have to set in place a process of education and we've actually got to be patient.

"The fundamental difficulty is that it's going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling."

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Bill of rights to rein in Parliament?

Australia was the only [alleged] democratic nation not to have a charter of rights.

Australia is [allegedly] a step closer to getting a bill of rights, which could [allegedly] enshrine rights to free speech and non-discrimination. The Federal Government is set to begin a consultation process into what the document should look like next week.

The charter would outline a set of rights and require the Parliament to ensure legislation complies with them. It is unlikely to be a US-style constitutional document - which allows courts to declare laws invalid - but will probably be based on those in Victoria, the ACT and Britain.

The cabinet agreed on the nationwide consultation process on Monday.

The Government will use the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, next Wednesday, to call for options on a human rights charter.

Kevin Rudd threw his support behind the principles enshrined in the declaration yesterday in a speech to Parliament marking the anniversary. "As a middle power we believe in a creative use of diplomacy to build stronger human rights protection in every part of the world," the Prime Minister said.

The Australian National University's Professor Hilary Charlesworth said the bill of rights would probably include civil and political rights such as the right to free speech and protection from discrimination. What was less clear was whether economic, social and cultural rights would be included, such as the right to education, to a high standard of health care and the right to work.

"I think [the Government] will leave it open," she said.

The move is sure to attract its critics, with the Coalition having already declared its opposition to a bill of rights. The shadow attorney-general, George Brandis, has previously said a rights charter was unnecessary and unwise, and would concentrate too much power in the judiciary.

George Williams, a constitutional expert who helped to draft the Victorian charter, said Australia was the only democratic nation not to have a charter of rights. He said the Government should consult as widely as possible and avoid including potentially contentious rights, such as a right to abortion. "A charter is not about foisting new agendas on to people," said Professor Williams, of the University of NSW.

"I would not put divisive things there. I would stick to things like freedom of speech - that we know we believe in and that have overwhelming public support … The process should be very open. It should not just involve legal and human rights groups. Any Australian who wants to should have a say."

Professor Williams said charters in Britain and Australia had led to almost no increases in litigation but could prevent the passing of laws that impinged on rights, such as the federal sedition laws.

Quote: 1. The very idea that we live in a democracy in Australia is highly controversial. 2. There have been many complaints about the Victorian bill of rights not preventing judges from denying claims lodged in the courts.

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Aust ratifies UN protocol on discrimination

Australia has signed a UN convention to provide Australian women with international legal protection for their human rights.

The Federal Government has ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Minister for Women, Tanya Plibersek, says women now have the option of making a sex discrimination complaint to the United Nations after exhausting all legal channels in Australia.

"I think it's a very important thing for men and women that Australia says internationally, that equality between men and women is important in this country and that we're prepared to be judged by international standards," she said.

"We live in a region where a number of countries have very high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault and as we campaign in Australia to reduce domestic violence and sexual assault, as we try and help our neighbouring countries, it's very important to say that we are prepared to be judged by the same standards."

Quote: The problem with this though is that Australia doesn't uphold its UN protocol's on anything so in reality this is just a worthless piece of propaganda by the Australain Government and the alleged United Nations. All people are discriminated against in this country all the time. It's one thing to state these protocols but another to uphold them. Shame on Australia.

Lawyer prepares UN case against intervention

An Indigenous leader from central Australia has asked a human rights lawyer to take a case against the federal intervention to the United Nations.

Barbara Shaw from the Intervention Rollback Action Group says she believes the compulsory quarantining of welfare payments and the continued suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act is wrong.

Her UN case will argue that the federal intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities is racially discriminatory.

The Government says it will reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the next phase of the intervention, once it has consulted with Indigenous communities.

But Ms Shaw says that is not acceptable.

"I believe that the intervention is wrong and a lot of people are suffering," she said.

"The Minister for Indigenous Affairs and the Prime Minister thinks that everybody likes the intervention and it's helping our children and women, and in fact it's not."

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Judge attacks disparity in laws

Australia has a long way to go in protecting the rights of women, Aborigines, migrants and homosexuals, High Court judge Michael Kirby said yesterday.

Justice Kirby was at the University of NSW last night to accept an honorary Doctorate of Laws for his ''eminent service to the community''.

He told graduates from the university's law faculty it was up to the next generation of lawyers to continue to uphold and improve the justice system.

"At your coming in, you must scrupulously maintain that tradition," Justice Kirby said. "You must strengthen it and safeguard it, for without law there is tyranny."

Justice Kirby, who must retire from the High Court in March when he turns 70, is tipped to leave the Bench at the end of the year.

Perhaps alluding to the reforms, which he has lobbied for, Justice Kirby said there was still inequality for women and minority groups "The position of gays has got better in my lifetime; but the oppression and ignorance are not yet over," he said.

"Inequality and discrimination have not yet stopped.

"Wrongs and injustices still occur in the law to this day, including even for me, an office-holder under the nation's Constitution. So it is work in progress; no room for complacency."

He warned graduates, "We cannot afford to be starry-eyed about our profession".

"You know that sometimes, with the aid of good lawyering, judges can strengthen the law with justice.

"But you also know many cases where this has proved impossible. And some where the outcomes sometimes seemed unnecessarily unjust. You know that access to justice is too expensive. Despite law reform reports, parliaments often neglect the demonstrated need for reform."

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Discrimination laws should better protect men: commissioner

The Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner wants the law strengthened to better protect men who want to spend more time at home with their families.

Elizabeth Broderick will today launch the findings of a year-long national tour, during which she heard people's experience of discrimination.

Among the recommendations is a call for a review of sexual discrimination laws, with particular attention to the discrimination experienced by men with family commitments.

Ms Broderick says protection for men under the act is quite limited.

"I think we need to strengthen those laws and we need to look at a different model of success as well," she said.

"Not just the always-present, 24/7, traditional, male model of success."

NAIDOC week to focus on Indigenous inequalities

A series of events to mark the contribution of Australia's Indigenous people will be held across the country this week.

NAIDOC celebrations began more than 50 years ago as a day of remembrance but have since expanded to become a week-long event.

Anne Martin from the national NAIDOC Week Committee says this year's theme will examine the inequalities Indigenous people face.

"We're looking at ways forward and positive affirmation of what can happen," she said.

"Recognition of high-profile people in many avenues and what they've done and the people in our local communities that make wonderful differences and our elders who have paved the way."

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The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations.

A delegation leaves today for the annual UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.

Delegation Leader Les Malezer says parts of the intervention, like income management, breach United Nations charters on racial discrimination and human rights.

"What we hope to do is at least make people aware internationally of the extent of racial discrimination that occurs only against Aboriginal people in Australia and that continues despite changes of government," he said.

"Despite decades of supposed reforms in Australia, it's still the most discriminatory place in the world."

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The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner wants the Racial Discrimination Act immediately reinstated in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities.

When the Howard government's emergency intervention legislation was introduced last year, it was made exempt from the Racial Discrimination Act.

Commissioner Tom Calma says suspending the Act for Aboriginal people is wrong.

"If we want to practice equality, if we want to honour our international obligations and the obligations that the Parliament has bestowed on Australia, and that's the Racial Discrimination Act, then that should be back in place and people should have the right to be able to lodge a complaint," he said.