Fw: August human rights events and news
Lyn Jones
Action Collective Forum in Brisbane on the 20th, and Jeff Brunne's survey of
human rights references in the 3 major parties' policy documents.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Brunne" <camp...@justrightsqld.org>
To: <lej...@aapt.net.au>
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 7:34 PM
Subject: August human rights events and news
Hello everyone
Apologies for any cross-postings, but I thought I would let you know about a
couple of upcoming events...
URGENT: WALK AGAINST WARMING
It seems odd to say this as my frigid fingers endeavour to type this
newsletter on my keyboard but 2010 is shaping up as the hottest year since
climate records have been kept.
Despite the fact that polls over the last decade show a majority of
Australians favour actions to address climate change, this issue hasn't
featured strongly in the current election campaign. This annual event is an
opportunity to show many of us do consider it both important and urgent.
TIME: 11am, Sunday 15 August 2010
PLACE: King George Square, Brisbane
Linda Selvey (CEO Greenpeace), Wanita Limpus (Kiribati Australia), Professor
Ian Lowe, Graham Readfearn, John Schluter and Toby Hutcheon will speak at
the event, there will be a free concert with The Medics, legendary Coloured
Stone frontman Bunna Lawrie and local favourite Gowiiee Pa'ul. There will
also be great festival food with Flowers of the World, Conscious Kitchen and
Orgazmic Langos along with great conservation and solar energy exhibits.
For more information have a look at the attached file or visit
www.greenfest.com.au
==============================================================
9th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAMPA INCIDENT
In many ways the current election campaign has been like the Tampa (2001)
election revisited. During that election a Liberal Party leader announced a
series of harsh measures to protect Australia from a flood of asylum seekers
and the ALP leader agreed. The media added to the hysteria by refusing to
put the small number of boat arrivals into perspective by explaining their
numbers were very small compared to the overall immigration program and
using inflammatory, misleading language such as 'illegal migrants',
'queue-jumpers' and the need to 'protect our boundaries'.
We don't appear to have progressed much in a decade!
On election eve, the Refugee Action Collective is holding an event calling
to let the boats land, end offshore processing and close all detention
centres. This is a call for justice and dignity.
TIME: 5.30pm, Friday 20th August
PLACE: Brisbane Square, top of Queen St Mall, corner of George St, Brisbane
Speakers include Chaman Shah Nasiri (Afghan refugee & former Nauru
detainee), Father Pan Jordan (community leader of Tamil refugees), Sam
Watson (Aboriginal leader), Andrew Bartlett (long-standing refugee advocate)
and Ian Rintoul (Refugee Action Collective).
For more information, phone Paul on 3392 3843 or email pa...@rac-qld.org.
=============================================================
FEDERAL ELECTION
The key human rights event coming up is, of course, the federal election.
This is an opportunity for us to exercise some of our civil and political
rights. When you vote you might like to consider the human rights agendas of
the major parties.
1. I looked through the three pages of policies at www.alp.org.au and found
no policies related to human rights or a human rights act. I typed human
rights in the search bar and this brought up the announcement of the
Australian human rights framework made by the Attorney-General on 21 April
in response to the Brennan Committee recommendation that Australia should
have a human rights act. This framework - which can be found at
www.ag.gov.au/humanrightsframework - involves parliamentary scrutiny of
legislation, human rights education and a national action plan. There is
little evidence that any aspects of this framework have been implemented
since the announcement.
2. There is one page of policies at www.liberal.org.au and, again, there
were no policies related to human rights or a human rights act although I
did note that 'national security' had the largest list of policies. After
searching for human rights, I found an article by George Brandis from last
October in which George states that: ''There is much in the report which the
Opposition supports. In fact, two of the recommendations - for the
establishment of a Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, and an audit of
Commonwealth legislation to identify gaps in human rights protection - were
the Opposition's ideas. However we will strenuously oppose a charter of
rights, which must not be adopted without the express agreement of the
Australian people." Brandis says elsewhere that a referendum would be
required to endorse a human rights act.
3. At www.greens.org.au there are various categories of policies, one of
which is Human Rights and Democracy. Within this category there is a policy
related to constitutional reform and democracy where it is stated that "the
Australian Greens will enact a Bill of Rights".
I did find this an interesting exercise, however, as I had the chance to
read a number of policies from each party which haven't received much
airtime in the daily electoral cycle.
All the best
Jeff Brunne
0410 551 354
_____________________________
Unsubscribe / Change Profile: http://ymlp174.com/u.php?id=gesbwyugsgueegesj
Powered by YourMailingListProvider