Concerns for future of human rights charter
The Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (VGLRL) has raised concerns over the future of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, which is currently under parliamentary review.
Although public submissions to the inquiry are still open, VGLRL convenor Sarah Rogan said Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark has made his opposition clear.
“Robert Clark has longstanding difficulties with the charter,” Rogan told the Star Observer.
“He doesn’t really see it’s entirely necessary and to have an Attorney-General who doesn’t see the importance of a charter is worrying.
“It’s up to the groups in society who are affected by the good running of the charter to make submissions to the inquiry.
Clark told The Australian newspaper in December the charter “cannot continue in its present form.”
“It is not an effective tool for delivering rights across the board,” he said.
“It runs the risk of delivering inappropriate outcomes because it is couched in broad and sweeping terms that are open to interpretation.”
The charter — put in place to ensure laws do not breach human rights — is being reviewed as part of a four-year review, as set out by the Act.
Some in the GLBT community fear the charter may be watered down or abolished altogether reducing safeguards against discriminatory laws being put in place.
Fears have been fanned following the Baillieu Government’s move to reverse former Brumby Government Equal Opportunity legislation that would make it harder for religious organisations to discriminate against GLBT people – some concerned the Government has little sympathy for GLBT issues.
ALSO Foundation CEO Crusader Hillis said queries into the continuation of the Attorney-General’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on GLBTI issues have not been answered.
“We’ve heard nothing since the election,” Hillis said.
Submissions close on July 1.
I completely agree with you Paul. The Charter is not necessary.
The charter should be abolished and the pre’07 position restored with regards to the same protection under common law that all citizens have. Why sections of society believe they should have “rights” above other people astounds me. We are all human and we all have to live together. Get over it!
Clem Netwon-Brown can resign, or become an Independent, change the balance of power, and vote with the Greens and Victorian Labor to restore our protections in the Equal Opportunity Act that he stripped away from us. But he cannot continue back stabbing us.
Prahran MP Clem Newton-Brown could not walk three metres across the parliament floor when it mattered. He voted, to repeal protections in the Victoria Equal Opportunity Act. He denied us access to thousands of government funded jobs in Disability Services, Aged Care, Youth Services, an even Palliative Care Services. If you were gay, and open, you could be sacked and lose your home, if you worked for a religious group that provided government funded services. For those applying for a job, you can work hard, have all the experience and qualifications, and not get the job due to your sexuality.
Clem Newton-Brown needs explain why he lied before the election, why did the Judas on us when it mattered. Not waist our taxes on Spin.
He took a knife to us when we needed his support, when it mattered. We were good enough to pay for his Iphone, his Ipad, his Laptop and his mortgage. Our money was good enough for his grocery shopping and his fine dining. But when it really mattered we were not good enough for him, simply because of the way we were born. We were not good enough for the billions of dollars of government services.
In 1995, the current Liberal Party Nutjob who is now Attorney-General said of homosexuality to parliament, “I believe homosexual practices form a destructive way of life, destructive to the individual and destructive also to other individuals who are brought into that way of life. I suppose it is most readily demonstrable at a physical level; it is a physical fact that the human body is not designed for many homosexual practices and it is clear that physical problems follow from those practices.” Mr Clark went on to quote a student medical text stating that homosexual male pedophiles commonly reported molesting hundreds of victims, while heterosexual pedophiles “molest only a few”. (Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/libs-take-dim-view-of-homosexuals/2005/11/26/1132966006762.html ).
There is a game plan by the Liberal/National Party of Victoria to strip us of any protections. To have us go back to the darkest days in our history. To have us slowly slured into criminality again. Clem Netwon-Brown of Prahran has lied prior the election, and ganged up with his mate Robert Clarke, to strip us of all protections.
Simon Overland has been removed, the police GLBTI office is being removed, the Equal Opportunity protections we had at work have been removed, and now they are removing us from the Charter of Rights.
We as a community will get nothing by doing nothing about all this. We must pull together to destroy the Liberal/National Party. There are thousand ways to protest, from everyone printing a flyer and putting it in 10 neighbours letter boxes, to stopping Clem Newton-Brown from marching in pride, to making Utube clips about the Liberal/National Party, to involving others who are effected by thier rape of human rights, such as the Jewish Community. We have the ability to once again, as we did in the eighties, pull together and make this country a fair go. We did this when we were fighting the Liberal National/Party and their terrible attitudes to HIV/AIDS saying it was God’s will that we die. If we could overcome the hate of the Liberal/National Party then, we can do it again now. But you must act, you all have the capacity to do something.
In 1995, the current Liberal Party Nutjob who is now Attorney-General said of homosexuality to parliament, “I believe homosexual practices form a destructive way of life, destructive to the individual and destructive also to other individuals who are brought into that way of life. I suppose it is most readily demonstrable at a physical level; it is a physical fact that the human body is not designed for many homosexual practices and it is clear that physical problems follow from those practices.” Mr Clark went on to quote a student medical text stating that homosexual male pedophiles commonly reported molesting hundreds of victims, while heterosexual pedophiles “molest only a few”. (Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/libs-take-dim-view-of-homosexuals/2005/11/26/1132966006762.html ).