HAVE YOUR SAY FOR A BETTER AUSTRALIA

By Russell Flynn

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Australian citizens are being encouraged to engage visibly and effectively with the National Human Rights Consultation process.

The rights of all Australians are being discussed, so as to ensure that our rights as Australian citizens - our human rights, are considered. If we are not there now, our identities will not be considered in the Rudd Government's response to the National Consultation and our citizenship could be compromised again.

The first meetings of the Queensland round of the National Consultations were held on Monday 22 March at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre. The Consultation Committee will report on these three areas:

Which human Rights needed to be protected and promoted in Australia?

If they were currently adequately protected, and

How Australia could better protect our human rights?

In answering the third question there are two options being presented: adopt a Charter of Rights or develop a Bill of Rights. In the consultations to date been there has been strong support for the adoption of a Bill of Rights, based on the UN Declaration. An Australian Bill of Rights would be enforceable and all government legislation, policy and programmes would need to comply with it. Currently, though Australia has signed the UN Declaration of Human Rights, it is not yet enacted in Australian Law, so does not actually apply. A Bill of Rights could remedy this.

Don't worry of you think you've missed your chance to participate. There will be 13 more Community Roundtables in diverse regions across Queensland, with the last one the week of 24 May. You can check out a full list of where they are on-line at the website below. You can also make a submission - submissions do not have to be formal volumes of research and all citizens are being encouraged to log-on and make their feelings known. You can learn more about the National Consultation or make a submission by going to www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au .