The Commonwealth Government is examining the proposed introduction of a Federal “Charter Of Human Rights” and has appointed Fr. Frank Brennan as Chairperson along with Mary Kostakidis, Mick Palmer and Tammy Williams. They have been tasked with asking the following questions and reporting to the Government.
- Which human rights and responsibilities should be protected and promoted?
- Are human rights sufficiently protected and promoted?
- How could Australia better protect and promote human rights?
Many Christians are concerned that such a Charter could limit Christian freedom. As a service to the Christian community, a special event has been organised for those who live in Melbourne by The Australian Christian Lobby, The Melbourne Archdiocese of the Catholic Church and the Church & Nation Committee, Presbyterian Church of Victoria. This event will include a panel based Q &A session with questions submitted in writing on the night.
Date: Wednesday 27th May 2009
Venue: The Chapel, Crossway Baptist Church, Vision Drive, Burwood East
Time: 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Enquires: (03) 9018 1782
For full details click here.
I think some of the arguments against a Bill of rights from the ACL smack of a paternalistic world view (king and country)…. I think society has moved on a long way from ‘top down’ only leadership to one where distributed leadership and the ‘rights of all’ are more prominent. Their view seems to state that the country should be governed by politicians alone because they are elected etc etc etc. Lets face it, politicians are manipulators and also manipulated. A bill of rights administered by an external agency could be beyond the influence of the ACL and all other lobby groups, so maybe thats a reason for their distaste.
The purpose of a Bill of rights (in my limited understanding) is to canonize fundamental rights for every Australian and ensure that they are not deliberately or unwittingly diminished by any political or administrative entity. This is a good thing, good for every Australian. We as christians have the bible to refer to for all religious matters, currently the country has the shifting sands of parliamentary acts, something more enduring could help. It certainly hasn’t produced mayhem in Victoria.