Labor should practice what it preaches about human rights

Australia writes that it condemns human rights abuses abroad but will not protect them at home Doctor Bronwyn Kelly.

THERE IS A DESIGNATORY AND CRUSHING RIBALism Call Penny Wong, Anthony Albanese and Richard Marles.

Prime Minister’s statement to Iran wrote:

‘We called on the Iranian regime to support the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Iranian citizens.’

Coming from a party that steadfastly refuses to introduce a new proposal Human Rights Act This attitude in Australia to justify an attack on Iran’s sovereignty and people is doubly offensive.

Labor governments, at least at the federal level, have for years stubbornly refused to legislate human rights for Australians. This rejection was clearly visible in 2010 when a federal Labor government refused to introduce a Human Rights Bill and again in 2024 when another federal Labor government rejects a bid recommendation By the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights Human Rights Act.

So both Australian and Iranian citizens suffer from a lack of human rights. But of course this would not justify a military attack on Australia (or any other sovereign country), nor would it justify a military attack on the Iranians.

Undoubtedly, the government is trying to send the message that if a state attacks its own people, it is permissible for other countries to attack that state, even if military intervention has not been approved by the UN. But if this is what our government truly believes, then the federal government would do well to crack down on the recent surge in sanctioned police violence by the New South Wales government against protesters; Otherwise, this provides no moral basis for internal destabilization of our polity or foreign interference in our democracy.

Just two months ago I published a new book that I was involved in. wrote HE:

‘[The state] For example, he did not use violence against the Australian people as he did against the American people during the second Trump regime.’

But apparently I spoke too soon. The events of February 9 in Sydney, where police brutality against protesters reached unprecedented levels, are beyond me. These events show that Australia is not a society sufficiently strengthened by its laws against human rights violations by the state, especially when it comes to the right to protest. Our legal silence on this issue becomes a real, physical risk to ordinary Australians, even when they follow the law and police instructions.

Australia has reached a grim turning point in terms of its cultural and democratic stability, and we have reached that point rather abruptly. There has been a visible disturbance in the way we have always thought of ourselves as a free, democratic and largely harmonious society. A coordinated, stormtrooper-like and clearly premeditated display police brutality was released Talking about peaceful crowds is new in Australia, but deeply chilling.

And so, a Human Rights Act It would be a very healthy step at this time. This would at least compensate for some of the hypocrisy regarding Iran (currently Iran’s murder of school children) and for police brutality in Sydney. And it could begin to reassure Australians that the state is with them, not against them.

Having said that, if a past resistance Human Rights Act While it’s something to consider, we shouldn’t realistically expect a return. Current governments in Australia are now too afraid of the escalation of protests against them to back down, let alone go so far as to legitimize human rights in domestic law.

However, to support and keep safe any claim to legitimately govern Australia, federal and state governments need to find a way to ensure Australians’ human rights – even if not in law – and to restore our trust that they truly respect those rights. At the very least, they should prevent further erosion of our trust. Or, in other words, they need to restore our trust that they will act in the public interest. One way they can do this is an economy based on the public interest.

As seen in the Western world, trust in governments is rapidly eroded when they directly attack the civil and political rights of their own people; But at the same time, these rights are slowly eroded as they make decisions that eat away at their economic, social and cultural rights. This is what American governments have been doing since the 1970s, and it has left those left behind outraged; This is righteous anger that has now completely destabilized the country’s governance. America is a divided society that we certainly should not want Australia to become. However, it still seems likely that we are on the brink of the abyss.

If so, it means that any Australian government that wants to keep our society together wants community cohesion, or as the prime minister now prefers to call it. unity (with hints of an unfortunate decline in cultural diversity, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt on that) – he might consider doing something to slow or even reverse the erosion of Australians’ economic, social and cultural rights. If they can do this, they can avoid the civil and political dystopia now so evident in the United States and other states where fascism is on the rise in response to rising poverty and inequality.

Access to economic, social and cultural rights protections in Australia is clearly in decline and has been for most of this century. The cumulative effects of this are evident in the well-documented increase in mental health problems and chronic conditions in Australia and the significant increase in poverty and wealth inequality. Here, Hereand by the government itself Here. This socioeconomic atrophy leads to declining trust in governments long before they start acting hypocritically about supporting illegal wars and denying the rights of Australians who differ from them on vital issues like genocide or climate change.

No one trusts a hypocritical government to act in the public interest. But they can at least begin to trust a government that is clearly working with them in partnership to make economic decisions that will clearly secure their well-being and well-being, and has chosen to do so before all our trust is lost.

For this purpose, the government has the option of taking an initiative. Australian Public Interest Collaboration – An open program of community engagement through which Australians can build a new social contract that will strengthen their trust in their government and each other, thereby stabilizing our polity and strengthening our democracy in the face of growing global fascism and economic instability. Such cooperation or similar may or may not be the only way to restore tranquility in our society; But if the government has a better option, let’s hear it before Australians lose all confidence in their commitment to their rights.

Dr Bronwyn Kelly is the Founder of Australian Community Future Planning (ACFP). He specializes in long-term integrated planning for Australia’s society, environment, economy and democracy, and governance systems for nation states.

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