Is it time for a national bill of rights? Crikey readers took the question in stride yesterday as they continued to discuss the implications of recent police raids on media organisations. Elsewhere, readers tackled Australia’s great failings that have led to refugee detention camps.
On the need for a bill of rights:
Mike Smith writes: Politicians benefit most from the lack of a bill of rights, what on earth makes you think either side would introduce it?
Robert Garnett writes: One slight but not insignificant factor is of course that the AFP, whilst they are a bunch of typical right wing plods, are mostly incompetent, which will give us a brief delay until we are consumed by ultimate totalitarianism.
David Thompson writes: No other democracy holds as tight to its secrets and the ABC raid is the latest example of how far the Coalition goes to “scare reporters into submission”.
John Attwood writes: Of greater concern is the potential for a record to be “altered” in some way, and then used as proof in a court. So, hypothetically the AFP find a file, alter it, and then charge a journalist (or a news organisation) with offences based on the altered file. One hopes that the ABC have off site backups of the original files/emails/tweets etc without reference to original locations.
On the mentality propping up detention camps
Peter Wileman writes: Inevitably this issue will be resolved and millions of dollars of compensation will be given to the poor buggers that our government are torturing. Let the millions of dollars first come from the money no doubt put aside for Howard’s state funeral that the LNP will insist on, and then from politicians’ superannuation and other rewards for “service”.
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Quote “Politicians benefit most from the lack of a bill of rights, what on earth makes you think either side would introduce it?”
Exactly and without the electorate protesting on street and screaming for change, of course no side of government is going do anything to obstruct the roll out of police state Australia.
It’s too late now anyway, trying to put a bill of rights over 15 years of draconian legislation would be like trying to put a little bandied on a large festering wound. The time for a bill of rights was 20 years ago which might have prevented the wound from occurring in the first place.
I’ll put a little band aid on my post and correct “little bandied” with “little band aid”.
An academic in 1982 once told a group of uni students that Australia needed a bill of rights. It’s clear now that all citizens need this protection not just journalists as Gullian Triggs timely book argues.