A Human Rights Charter for Queensland?

Written by:

Mark Fowler
(6 December 2016)

At the recent Queensland state Labor conference Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk MP announced her government’s commitment to the introduction of a Queensland human rights act, to be modelled on the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006.

Mark Fowler from our office was a member of the Queensland Law Society Human Rights Working Group, and was invited to make submissions at the Queensland Parliamentary Inquiry into the Charter, with a particular focus on the ‘right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion’.

Mr Fowler’s piece from yesterday’s Spectator Australia, outlines a number of these submissions. In particular, Mr Fowler cautions that when enshrining rights in law, ‘precisely where the boundary lines are drawn can determine whether rights are preserved, or are trampled upon’. With particular regard to religious freedom, Mr Fowler briefly outlines how different approaches to enshrining rights claims can radically affect the meaning and application of those claims.

The full article containing Mr Fowler’s observations can be found here.