Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I will not use up my time at this juncture on the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission but I simply want to emphasise the enormous importance of the work that the commission does and the enormous range of that work. That is detailed in a lot of depth in their annual report. I would recommend to people—not just the senators here but the general community—that perhaps occasionally they think of looking at some of these annual reports. There is a perception that annual reports are dry and tedious administrative documents. Some of them are. Obviously some of the financial statements are not everyone’s cup of tea, though they are certainly important for parliamentarians to keep an eye on.

Annual reports do actually provide a lot of detail and many of them these days are written in a much more accessible way and give a much better insight into the work of particular departments and commissions. An enormous number of them of course—hundreds—are tabled each year, but this one, for example, I would very much recommend to people to enable them to get an idea of the enormous value and breadth of the work that the commission does.

There is often a very dismissive attitude taken by some political commentators who say that it is all bleeding-heart stuff or that all the antidiscrimination stuff has no practical value in the real world. There is a lot more to human rights than legal enforcement and the broader educative, consultative and oversight role that the commission plays is very important. The commission contributes regularly to Senate committee inquiries and in doing that it benchmarks policies, legislation and issues against commitments given by our country either under our own legislation or under international human rights conventions and covenants. Those are important benchmarks. They are important reminders and if it were not for a group like the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission then we often would not be reminded of those benchmarks. We all fall short from time to time and sometimes there are domestic reasons why it would not be appropriate legislation to mirror those conventions. I am not saying that they should override domestic law but I am saying that it is important to continue to measure our performance against the standards that we as a nation, as a government and as a parliament have signed up to. That is an important part of the role of the commission.

I also take the opportunity while I am on this topic to express my disappointment—disappointment was also expressed today by the social justice commissioner—that the international declaration on indigenous rights that was due to be adopted by the full council of the United Nations before the end of this year appears to have been deferred for 12 months. I think that is a real missed opportunity. It would not have been a binding convention—it was a declaration—but it would have been the first collation and recognition in a global sense of the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples.

I am disappointed the Australian government did not support adopting that declaration, but they were not alone. I am also disappointed in New Zealand particularly, Canada, the US, and one or two others for not supporting the adoption of that declaration—but it has not gone away; it has simply been deferred. I think it is disappointing, but it also presents an opportunity to build greater public awareness of the value of a declaration like that and its importance to indigenous peoples both in Australia and in so many other countries around the world. I am sure the human rights commission will be part of that process over the coming 12 months. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.