What’s happening on American streets makes clear that a charter of rights does not prevent state overreach. But human rights must be more than a debating point
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For decades, Labor governments have been waiting for a “catalysing political trigger” to convince the opposition that there was a real and urgent need for a comprehensive, codified Australian charter of rights as exists in all other comparable nations.
It is a shame that the tragic event at Bondi last December has not yet become that political trigger. The shock was palpable, public sentiment was high, human rights had demonstrably been trashed, lives were lost and irrevocably changed, the social fabric frayed.