Bill Of Rights In Australia Essay

The US differs in that its constitution contains a Bill of Rights which is a systematic enumeration of many rights rather than miscellaneous which has amendments. The US first 10 amendments involve the protection of freedoms (speech, press, and religion), Australia is the only democratic country without a national bill of rights. The Bill of Rights is to give the same rights to every individual and to lessen the power of governments to impose their bias, prejudices and even morals within our laws. It would create better accountability to ensure fairness for all individuals. The framers of Australia's Constitution, working in the 1890s, debated the adoption of a Bill of Rights along the lines of that in the United States. The proposal was defeated and our Constitution contains few protections for what we now call human rights. Nevertheless, there are five explicit individual rights in the Constitution. These are the right to vote (Section 41), protection against acquisition of property on unjust terms (Section 51 (xxxi)), the right to a trial by jury (Section 80), freedom of religion (Section 116) and prohibition of discrimination on the basis of State of residency (Section 117). Every attempt has failed. Most recently, the 1988 attempt to amend the Australian Constitution to extend freedoms

They depend on the cases which are brought to their courts whether it be original jurisdiction or a contented challenge from a lower court. Even when cases are brought, the judges are not always able or willing to invoke legal principles to protect basic rights. The High Court itself declared that there was no common law right to privacy. Women's rights have often been overlooked. Prisoners rights have often been denied. Rights of Australian Aboriginals have often been rejected. So far as homosexuals are concerned, the law until recently punished them and still does - at least on paper - in