Australia is a Federal democratic nation that allows its citizen to elect their own leaders. It does not have a single document, a bill of rights, to contain all the fundamental rights as it is in other democratic nations. However Australia chose a dualism approach when considering international law, thus although it has agreed to be bound by these major international human rights treaties, they do not form part of Australia’s domestic law unless the treaties have been specifically incorporated into Australian law through legislation. It maintained the need to differentiate between its national and international law and how they should be applied without invalidating their own laws. This does not mean that human rights are not protected in any other way.
As a signatory to international treaties, Australia agreed to be bound by these treaties. At a Federal level or national level, it has an obligation under the international law to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and it has agreed to uphold many of those fundamental rights. Despite the fact that Australian constitution does not have a Bill of Rights, it has other ways of ensuring that its people enjoy a wide range of rights. Some rights are provided in legislation which are acts passed by the Commonwealth Parliament at a national level or by state or territory parliament the state level and in common law.
In terms of article 26 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, it is stated that