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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lAmnesty calls for Teoh Bill blockABC AM Transcript, 28 March 2001 - COMPERE: Amnesty International says that a Bill currently before the Australian Senate will strip Australians of their human rights. And it's urged voters to contact their senators to block its passage. The so-called Teoh Bill was introduced by Labor when it was in government to prevent the application of international human rights standards in Australian courts. Now the Federal Government appears likely to gain Labor support to see the Bill become law, as Matt Peacock reports. MATT PEACOCK: Amnesty says it appears that the government wants to pick and choose what rights Australians should have. If the Bill does become law and there's a fair chance that it will, given the likelihood that Labor, who originally drafted it, will probably support it, then, says Amnesty, it will be yet another example of Australia's indifference to its international obligations. Amnesty's Heinz Schurmann-Zeggel. HEINZ SCHURMANN-ZEGGEL: This law prevents all Australians from taking human rights to court. From ceasing their rights under an international treaty, Australia has promised to abide by and say, 'Look, I want my rights tested here.' Whether this is children in trouble with the police by mistake, or women discriminated against or disabled people or Aboriginal applicants for land rights or anybody, this law will be a blanket prohibition on them to prevent them from going to the court in Australia under Australian jurisdiction on the basis of Australian law and saying, 'Look, but my human rights internationally have been violated'. MATT PEACOCK: Doesn't Australia have some right to take more drastic action, given the kind of people smuggling that it's seen over the past few years? HEINZ SCHURMANN-ZEGGEL: But this is not just about people smuggling. Of course Australia has the right, as any sovereign nation has, to deal with international crime. And there is a lot of movement internationally to deal with that. What I don't see Australia doing is to take into account that their own citizens and any visitors in their country or anybody who is under Australian authority at the moment, has rights internationally that Australia has promised to go by. MATT PEACOCK: What do you plan to do about it, given that it does look like the Labor Party who invented the legislation in the first place, is going to vote with the government to see it go through? HEINZ SCHURMANN-ZEGGEL: If that is the case I can only say to all Australians, pick up your phone, call your Senator, and ask them questions why suddenly they want to go ahead with this. Last year we had the UN Human Rights Committee say, in very strong terms, that this law if it is passed, would be in breach of Australia's Civil and Political Rights Convention obligations. And it urged the government to withdraw the Bill. Australians should ask themselves, 'Well, hang on a second. What's going on there? Why are our legal representatives suddenly so keen to pass this law?' COMPERE: Heinz Schurmann-Zeggel from Amnesty International in London speaking to Matt Peacock. Clip from The ABC related links:
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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