Media release - Protecting Rights in a Climate of Fear

12/12/2006

Protecting Rights in a Climate of Fear
The major human rights abuses in Australia are committed by the Federal Government, Julian Burnside QC will tell an audience of 500 people today when he delivers the 6th annual Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria Human Rights Oration. The indefinite detention of asylum seekers; secret jail orders; secret control orders and secret hearings are just some of the examples of human rights abuses committed by the Federal Government in the name of the war on terror, Mr Burnside says.

“David Hicks has been held for five years without trial and according to our Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock’s bizarre conceptions of justice, the fact that Hicks has not committed an offence against Australian, Afghani or American law is seen as a justification for holding him,” he says.

The Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria (to be renamed the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission on 1st January 2007) each year holds its Human Rights Oration to mark United Nations Human Rights Day December 10.

The aim of the Human Rights Oration is to bring a focus to human rights as an issue that affects everyone from world leaders to ordinary Australians.

Julian Burnside QC will deliver the Human Rights Oration on Protecting Rights in a Climate of Fear

Mr Burnside blames a weak Opposition, a compliant media and Government fear mongering about the threat of terrorism for the erosion of human rights in Australia.

“If the community lives in fear it will do nothing to help the group which is the focus of their fear. It does not matter whether the fear is well-founded, or is the result of a media frenzy or Government propaganda,” he says.

Mr Burnside says ASIO’s expanded powers to secretly detain and question people were impossible to reconcile with the values of a democracy.

“By creating or exploiting a climate of fear, the government has greatly expanded its own power at the cost of individual rights and freedoms,” he says.

Mr Burnside says the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, which comes into effect on January 1 2007 served as a timely reminder that human rights are fundamental and will ensure that human rights are at the forefront of State Government actions rather than an optional extra.

When: Wednesday 13th December 2006, 12pm to 1pm
Where: ZINC at Federation Sq, cnr Flinders St and Swanston St

Media enquiries: Slavka Scott 0419 33 7732