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OSGOODE HALL LAW JOURNAL [VOL. 31 NO. 1] 1993
THE AUSTRALIAN RELUCTANCE ABOUT RIGHTS
BY HILARY CHARLESWORTH
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... The challenge is then to invest a rights vocabulary with
meanings that challenge the current skewed distribution of
economic, social, and political power ...
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... Australian discussion about rights seems locked into a
repetitive debate about the legitimacy of judicial scrutiny of
governmental action. Moving beyond the assumptions of legalism
and recognizing the political nature of the judicial role allows
the debate over the introduction of a bill of rights to take new
directions. It challenges both the claim that democratic
principles will be undermined by formal guarantees of rights
...
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...The Australian reluctance about rights has produced a
precarious and lopsided structure for human rights protection
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... what is most crucial is for Australians to develop a new,
non-utilitarian notion of democracy, a sense that something is
wrong if minorities and disadvantaged groups within our society
have less possibility of having their human rights observed than
socially dominant groups. Our present complacency about the
protection of human rights in Australia is our greatest
weakness.