Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—As a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and a proud proponent of human rights, I welcome the release of the committee's report recommending that Australia establish a national human rights act. Let's be clear. The evidence showed us that, by establishing a human rights act, we can re-lay the foundations for a fairer, more sustainable and more inclusive society and ensure all the rights of Australians are adequately protected.

Despite Australia being party to seven core international human rights treaties, there is no way to challenge human rights violations under our current national law. To help people fight for the right to a healthy environment, their reproductive rights, education, adequate housing, Indigenous self-determination and many other rights, we need a national human rights act.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. State based human rights laws have been used to successfully protect a range of rights and have resulted in more accessibility to public transport, the extension of superannuation benefits to same-sex couples and public education for children seeking asylum. To be clear, none of those rights would have been granted if those state human rights acts were not in place.

Many of the abuses and injustices of the past might have been avoided if our federal government had been forced to consider human rights before rolling out schemes like robodebt or in regulating industries like the aged-care sector. Numerous royal commissions have shown us what happens when we fail to properly consider the impact of government action on the rights of vulnerable people and allow human rights to become a political football rather than a fundamental truth.

For too long, we have been layering bad law over the top of bad law rather than fixing our foundations with a fundamental human rights act. The result is an unnecessarily complex and piecemeal approach to protecting basic rights that sees this parliament deteriorate into a political debate every time we come up against a question of what is fair and equal treatment for all.

The committee received overwhelming support for a human rights act, with the vast majority of submissions—in fact, 96 per cent—in favour. Let's be really clear. Despite what we just heard from the opposition, 96 per cent of the submissions to this committee were in favour of the establishment of a human rights act. We also know, thanks to the work of Amnesty International, that 75 per cent of Australians support the establishment of a human rights act.

I also want to frame this up by saying that, in relation to the four per cent who expressed concern, the committee took on board all the evidence that was presented to us, including from religious organisations and organisations that fear the impact on their individual civil liberties, and we responded to those calls to amend what was the original draft of the human rights act to ensure we referenced all protections of all existing international treaties. Given this, I'm actually extremely disappointed this is not unanimous report, as I don't believe the evidence received by the committee, nor the actions and decisions of our committee, support that dissenting report.

In contrast to the dissenting report's claims that the adoption of an overarching human rights act would fundamentally remove our right to be seen individually, the dissenting report leaves human rights in a position where they will continue to be a political football, remaining dependent on which party is in control of the government at any point in time. Australians have a right to be able to expect to move beyond this politicisation of human rights, and I believe that's what this committee saw as a way forward for our nation.

We cannot let dissent distract us from doing what we know must be done to finally bring Australia in line with all other liberal democracies. We now need our government to step up and deliver the human rights protections everyone deserves. This is an exciting opportunity for Australia and one that we should grasp with gusto. The division is not amongst our community; it is between our political parties. I ask all in this House to set that political division down and focus on Australian citizenry.

In closing, I want to thank the chair of the committee, the member for Macnamara, for his leadership of this committee. He has been there from the very beginning, advocating that we be given the opportunity to do this work. He has attended every hearing and listened deeply to every piece of testimony. He's navigated the contention at the committee level fairly and equitably, so I thank him. I also want to thank the deputy chairs, the member for Bowman and the member for Monash. I know you brought with you your passions and I believe that added to the debate we had at the committee level. I also particularly want to thank Senator Lidia Thorpe, who constantly challenged our committee to listen deeply and explore opportunities to go as far as we possibly could. I have to say I also greatly appreciated the input and the collegiality of the rest of the committee membership. I want to assure Australians that there was extraordinary experience on this committee. For me, as somebody who is new to this parliament, it was a privilege to be part of the conversation and the debate. We need to thank the committee secretariat, led by Anita Coles, who has been simply extraordinary.

Finally, to the many individuals and organisations who provided submissions and testified in front of the committee, many of you have seen the potential for our nation to be better tomorrow than it is today through the introduction of a human rights act. Thank you. Thank you for that advocacy and for being the voice that calls us to be all we can be. This is but a small first step, but I believe it's a step forward and it has been made possible because of your commitment to shaping our democracy in a way that ensures all Australians truly are free and equal. I sincerely hope this 47th parliament lives up to the faith you have placed in us to take this forward.

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