Does Australia need a bill of rights? Many Australians think so and the Rudd government has acted on one of its election promises by starting a nationwide debate and inviting members of the public to submit their views on whether the right to free speech and other human rights should be enshrined in law.
The public has been asked to indicate by May 29 which human rights they feel should be protected, whether human rights are sufficiently protected at present, and what can be done to provide greater protection.
Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland launched the consultation process on December 10 to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Father Frank Brennan, a Jesuit priest and law professor, was appointed to head a panel that includes former police commissioner Mick Palmer, journalist Mary Kostakidis and lawyer Tammy Williams.
But the question Australians are now pondering is whether the legislation is necessary.
One of the most prominent critics is former New South Wales Labor premier Bob Carr who says the exercise will fail and has advised Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to dump the idea, telling The Australian that he didn't think it would 'take off, politically'.
'No one can object to a process of consultation but Australia is one of the freest countries in the world and our freedom rests on the common-law tradition, freedom of speech and the healthy give and take of parliamentary democracy.'
Mr Carr pointed out that the public had already said no to a bill of rights in a 1988 referendum.
