The Australian Democrats have proposed a bill to give Australia a Bill of Rights.

The bill has been presented to the Senate by Senator Andrew Murray.

The full bill is shown below as a downloadable PDF. It is followed by an explanatory document.

Summary of Australian Democrats Bill of Rights.

Summary of the Australian Democrats Bill of Rights

Background

In 1973, Lionel Murphy introduced a proposed bill of rights in the Commonwealth Parliament. It was based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘the Covenant’), to which Australia is a signatory. That bill lapsed when the Parliament was dissolved in 1974. In 1983, Gareth Evans again attempted to implement the Covenant, overseeing the drafting of another bill of rights. That Bill was given Cabinet approval but was never introduced into Parliament. After the 1984 election, Lionel Bowen replaced Gareth Evans as Attorney-General. He had the bill redrafted to water down its legal effect, and it was introduced into Parliament in 1985. [Read more…]