Wed, 14th May 2008

Budget sends confused signals on Human Rights

Senator the Hon George Brandis SC
Shadow Attorney-General

The Federal Budget has sent confused messages on human rights. While $2.8 million has been allocated to “facilitate national public consultations about the recognition and protection of human rights” [Budget Paper No. 2, p. 85], the Commonwealth’s principal human rights agency, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, has had its budget allocation slashed by a massive 11.9% in real terms [Budget Paper No. 4, p. 26]. This is 6 times the Efficiency Dividend.

HREOC performs an important role in redressing human rights abuses and achieving practical resolution of human rights issues through investigation and conciliation.

Furthermore, one of HREOC’s most important roles is the promotion of and public education about human rights. The $2.8 million allocated to public consultations on a proposed Bill of Rights could more usefully have been spent funding HREOC.

As always with the Rudd Government, there is a wide gap between the politics of gesture and practical solutions to real problems. Not even the field of human rights has escaped the spin.