• Frank Brennan

09 October 2009There is overwhelming community support for protecting the disadvantaged in a rights act, writes Frank Brennan in The Australian

MORE than 40,000 people participated in the National Human Rights Consultation. Despite the burdens of the global financial crisis and the complexities of an emissions trading scheme, Australians are able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They are very interested in discussing the protection of human rights, even in times of economic uncertainty. The four-member consultation committee has now reported to government, making 31 recommendations.

We spent four months traversing the country and attended 66 community round tables in 52 locations, from Christmas Island to Palm Island and from Thursday Island to Hobart.

During the consultation, much of the media attention focused on the debate about the utility and desirability of a federal human rights act. Half our recommendations have nothing to do with such an act and could be implemented regardless of whether parliament was minded to pass a human rights acts if and when the Rudd government decides to propose one...

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Frank Brennan, who chaired the National Human Rights Consultation, is a Jesuit priest, a professor of law at the Australian Catholic University and a visiting professorial fellow at the University of NSW.

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