What rights should be included in a human rights act?
This is rightly a question for extensive community discussion and debate. For a human rights act to achieve its goals it must reflect a set of values and ideals that resonate widely within the community. In our Model Bill we have included both civil and political rights and economic, cultural and social rights. All the rights included are based on those in the major international covenants that Australia has ratified. By contrast, in the ACT and Victoria, the governments opted to include a limited range of civil and political rights for now, with the option of increasing the list of protected rights in the future. We welcome debate on which approach Australians would prefer.
