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September 14th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
AAP
Victoria risks keeping company with countries like Belarus and Zimbabwe if it adopts recommendations to wind-back the state’s key human rights legislation, a civil libertarian has warned.
A review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights by the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC) recommends that courts have no role in enforcing human rights and providing remedies when they are breached.
While the committee does not advise abolishing the charter, it recommends that government departments and public services have no obligations to act compatibly with human rights.
Liberty Victoria president Spencer Zifcak said the report was “bitterly disappointing”.
“We think that the committee has produced a report that goes against the weight of the evidence submitted to it,” he told AAP.
“We think that if the key recommendations were implemented the charter would be rendered effectively meaningless.”
Professor Zifcak said Liberty will launch a campaign in coming months on the importance of human rights to Victorians.
“As far as we’re aware there have only ever been two countries that have instituted human rights legislation which have then gone on to repeal or substantially weaken it – they are Zimbabwe and Belarus,” he said.
“We don’t really want to join that company.”
The coalition says views expressed in the report tabled to parliament on Wednesday are those of cross-party committee members “and not necessarily those of the government”.
It says the report and many of the submissions made to SARC indicate that the charter has delivered benefits to Victoria and should not be repealed.
Human Rights Law Resource Centre executive director Phil Lynch said the review should have been used as an opportunity to strengthen the human rights of all Victorians, by amending the charter to enshrine the rights to adequate housing, education and health care.
Under the charter, Victorian courts must interpret laws consistently with human rights but if a law clearly breaches human rights, it is not automatically invalid.
SARC deputy chair and Labor MP Christine Campbell said she was disappointed the majority of committee members had preferred the recommendation to exempt government bodies from charter obligations.
“Most people in Victoria have had their battles with public authorities and to know that your human rights are to be respected under law is vital for all of us,” she said.
She called for the charter to be retained and strengthened, based on its first four years of operation.
The government must respond to the review within six months.
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