A Bill of Rights for Australia? : ask Frank Browne

Despite the nation’s purported reputation for a ‘fair go’, the Fitzpatrick and Browne privilege case suggests that Australia’s political culture contains an authoritarian dimension. As David Marr suggests, Australians “have only the patchiest record of becoming passionate about great abstractions – even the greatest of them, liberty”. A Bill of Rights would not be a panacea, but would form an important first step in safeguarding liberty. As George Williams argues, a Bill or Charter of Rights would give legal effect to our basic freedoms for the first time. It would help to prevent the making of bad laws and be used “to educate, shape attitudes and bring hope and recognition to people who are otherwise powerless”. It would help to make better laws and improve the accountability of governments to the people