Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, I present report No. 3 of 2017 Human rights scrutiny report.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I seek leave to have the tabling statement incorporated into Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

I rise to speak to the tabling of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights' Human Rights Scrutiny Report 3 of 2017.

In accordance with the committee's legislative mandate under section 7(a) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 the committee examines the compatibility of recent bills and legislative instruments with Australia's obligations under international human rights law.

A key purpose of the scrutiny report is to provide parliament with credible technical analysis about the human rights implications of legislation. The report is therefore a technical examination and does not assess the broader merits or policy objectives of particular measures.

The committee receives legal advice in relation to the human rights compatibility of legislation. It is served by an external legal adviser to the committee and secretariat staff.

Committee members performing a scrutiny function are not, and have never been, bound by the contents or conclusions of scrutiny committee reports. Like all parliamentarians, committee members are free to engage in debates over the policy merits of legislation according to the dictates of party, conscience, belief or outlook. Scrutiny committee members may, and often do, have different views in relation to the policy merits of legislation.

Eleven new bills are assessed in this scrutiny report as not raising human rights concerns. The committee is also seeking further information in relation to five bills and legislative instruments.

I encourage my fellow Senators and others to examine the committee's report to better inform their understanding of the committee's work.

With these comments, I commend the committee's Report 3 of 2017 to the Senate.