The following is a 2 page briefing paper I have prepared on
Australian Federal government legislation to negate obligations
under international conventions.
We are gravely concerned about the implications of this
legislation. We would be extremely grateful if you could send a
quick fax to the Attorney General (see below) expressing your
concern and how it will reflect poorly on Australia's stance at
international meetings and treaty negotiations, particularly in
relation to Human Rights and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Please send me a copy of your note (ifry@peg.apc.org) and let me
know if you get a response.
thanking you in anticipation, Ian Fry
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ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT ACTION ALERT
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS TO BE NULLIFIED BY LEGISLATION
BACKGROUND:
On the last sitting week of the Australian Federal Parliament in
June, Michael Lavach, Attorney General, introduced a very
regressive piece of legislation entitled, Administrative Decisions
(Effect of International Instruments) Bill. This legislation aims
to rescind the High Court decision in the Teoh Case
This related to a case in the High Court where the Court found
that ratification of treaties (in this case the Convention on the
Rights of the Child) had some significance in Australian domestic
law.
HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER THREAT
The legislation also has significant implications for a number of
human rights conventions. For instance, it will have serious
implications for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island
people. In a Law Week Seminar, Ms Elizabeth Evatt, Australian
member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and former
federal judge said that the governments response to Teoh seriously
undermined Australia's international standing as a human rights
pioneer. Mr Kevin O'Connor Acting Human Rights Commissioner has
also expressed grave concern about this issue to a Senate
committee.
THE ACT:
The operative clause of the legislation says:
"5. The fact that Australia is bound by, or a party to, a
particular international instrument, or that an enactment
reproduces or refers to a particular international
instrument, does not give rise to a legitimate expectation,
on the part of any person, that :
(a) an administrative decision will be made in conformity
with the requirements of that instrument; or (b) if the
decision were to be made contrary to any of those
requirements, any person affected by the decision would be
given notice and an adequate opportunity to present a case
against the taking of such a course."
What this basically means is that a government official is not
required to consider the governments obligations under an
international treaty in making a decision.
NULLIFY INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONVENTIONS:
This piece of legislation will have significant implications for
the implementation of a number of international environmental
conventions. It will, in effect, nullify obligations under
conventions which Australia is a party to, but does not have
specific enabling, domestic legislation. Such conventions include:
Bonn (Migratory wildlife), Biodiversity, Apia (Environment of the
Pacific), SPREP (Environment of the Pacific), JAMBA (Migratory
birds), CAMBA (Migratory birds), Ramsar (Wetlands), Climate Change