A Charter of Rights for Australia

Julian Burnside

“There is one measure which, if adopted in Australia, would make an important difference to this flawed democracy of ours: it is a Charter of Rights.

The response to the idea of a Charter of Rights is not easily summarised. To paraphrase H.W. Fowler, the attitude of Australians about a Bill of Rights may be divided into those who neither know nor care, those who do not know but care very much, those who know and condemn, those who know and approve, and those who know and discriminate …”