At 08:49 AM 18/12/2013, Frank O'Connor wrote: >And how far is that likely to go with our new Human Rights >Commissioner? :)
This is going to be interesting to watch, for sure. I'm not a Wilson fan by any means. He's rude, brash, extremely opinionated and close-minded. He's often on Friday morning ABC Melbourne radio in a head to head with a 'Labor' end of the spectrum person. He's an ideolog, or comes across that way in that forum. BUT I just heard him on ABC in an interview. The above characteristics still exist, but he may find that in a commission he will not just be talking to the wind and in his own echo chamber like the IPA. The work the HRC does will have *real* consequences to real human beings. It won't all be theory and ideology any more. He's going to have to balance those range of rights. He did say that the proposed code of conduct for refugees proposed by Morrison/Brandis et al should not be outside the boundaries of Australian law, which I thought was a reasonable position and not in line with the govt position. (Having said that, he and the govt may want to have a think about jurisdiction, since the 'code' is about refugees who are shunted off to *non* Australian places, and the laws there are what would take precedence, not Australian law. Morrison cannot have it both ways.) I think this is a wait and see. I believe in free speech, freedom of association (Queensland bikie laws, anyone?), freedom of religion (including none; Kevin Andrews, anyone?), and all those values in the UN declaration. We'll have to see if Mr. Wilson can manage the inconsistencies with his political masters and how Independent he really is. >Non-issue for Australians I'm afraid ... we no longer have any human rights. Perhaps. We can still tell our politicians to go jump in that great big lake! Ask the North Koreans how that's dealt with up there...... It will also be interesting to see if Brandis takes on the security establishment and this new declaration. Jan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [email protected] Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space. ~Margaret Atwood, writer _ __________________ _ _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
