Submission: To the National Human Rights Consultation Submission

RLC submitted that a move to amend the Constitution in order to give effect to human rights protections would need bi-partisan support and a significant groundswell of support from the Australian community. However, despite Australia's long history of failed political debate with regard to a Human Rights Act (including Constitutional amendment) and the current opposition to the introduction of a Human Rights Act, RLC does not believe that such a move should be ruled out in the future. In this regard, we referred to the situation in Canada before the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Canadian Constitution in 1982.

Our submission focused on the possibility that a Human Rights Act will be similar to the legislative initiatives undertaken in the ACT, Victoria, New Zealand and the UK.