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The Forum > Article Comments > Does the Human Rights Commission treat some groups more equally than others? > Comments

Does the Human Rights Commission treat some groups more equally than others? : Comments

By Brendan O'Reilly, published 9/7/2013

Advocates for personal liberties have consistently expressed a range of concerns about the Human Rights Commission and how it operates.

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Very well written. Another area of discrimination you can add to your list is the fact that a woman has a right to terminate not only her obligations, but also the life of a child in the womb that she does not want, whilst the father of a child in the womb that he does not want, has no right to terminate his obligations to that child. That also is discrimination.
Posted by bobS, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 9:27:30 AM
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Human Rights Commission reminds me of our ABC when it comes to 'Balance" !
Posted by Aspley, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 2:23:18 PM
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Another area of anti-male discrimination is (to the best of my knowledge) child custody after both parents have separated.
Normally young children are given to the mother (unless she is a crack head, and a prostitute, and psychotic), because of the argument that a female is more nurturing to the young. This nurturing argument is actually quite reasonable and I have no objection.
However if a couple, whether living together or not, are about to have a child and they decide, pre-natal, not to stay together as parents, guess which one will always be first choice to get the child immediately after birth?

What if the father is now married to another woman; would he be granted custody over the single mother? At the time of birth no bonding by the child would have occurred so the child would be happy to go to any mother for nurturing, birth or spouse of father.
The two parent family obviously offers a better environment than a single and thus should be where the child goes. But does that happen?

What if both parents, since conception, have got themselves into a stable relationship with someone else?In that case there is no reason why one parent should have priority over the other. Is the choice then made on specific particulars of each potential family?
Posted by Edward Carson, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 5:01:51 PM
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Edward Carson "However if a couple, whether living together or not, are about to have a child and they decide, pre-natal, not to stay together as parents, guess which one will always be first choice to get the child immediately after birth? "

Are you serious?
No amount of 'equality" will make the father of the baby able to breastfeed the newborn, and there will never be the dreadful physical hormonal response in that father, if the newborn is taken away from him soon after birth, that a new lactating mother suffers.

The fact that you can even ask that question shows that you have no real regard for the newborn and its natural need for its real mother at that age....as long as she is a fit mother.
Of course, that is not to say that the birth father should not be involved in his baby's life, but simply that breastfed is best if at all possible for newborns.
Posted by Suseonline, Wednesday, 10 July 2013 1:29:31 AM
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Sorry Susan, I worded that badly.
I was trying to make the point that even though the mother in that situation should have custody, it does not follow that she similarly should automatically have custody (all things being equal) when the father has a committed spouse to care for the child.

“the newborn and its natural need for its real mother at that age.” And you can support that claim?
I can remember media reports of babies getting accidentally mixed by hospitals at birth and years later, when the mistake is discovered, neither child has any inclination at all in being returned to its natural mother and father.
In this situation the child would still be with its natural father, and I thus doubt it is going to be traumatised by being unknowingly separated by its birth mother.

“dreadful physical hormonal response…, if the newborn is taken away … soon after birth, that a new lactating mother suffers.” I have no doubt this may well be true, but I think it is a bit rich to use that to prevent a decision to be made on who should get custody, bearing in mind that the law usually says it must be in the best interests of the child.
Posted by Edward Carson, Wednesday, 10 July 2013 9:15:06 AM
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Edward Carson, if you can't see why a newborn baby is better off with it's real mother... even if all other things are equal...then there is no point arguing with you.
Of course anyone can care for a newborn, but should we willingly do that to a baby unless absolutely necessary?

The longing for their 'real' mother can last a lifetime for those people who find out later that they were abandoned or adopted as newborns, even if they have good caring adoptive or step-parents....... do you discount those feelings?
Posted by Suseonline, Wednesday, 10 July 2013 9:59:37 PM
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The Human Rights Commission is yet anothe quango that is hugely expensive to operate and because it exists outside of ministeral control and direct answerability to Parliament is a blight on democracy.

If it ever served a useful purpose that purpose has been fulfilled long ago and the Commission should be disbanded forthwith.
Posted by onthebeach, Thursday, 11 July 2013 8:55:55 AM
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Susan, I think you have to base your argument on stronger claims than occasionally seeing crying adults on current affairs shows who finally catch up with their birth mothers.

With regards to giving child to father and spouse.
A.The kid is not fully abandoned if Dad is still there.
B. There are a lot of street kids in our society and in most cases they are the ones who reject their birth mothers.
C. The example I gave in the previous post about the accidental parent switch. In those cases (where both environments were two parent and stable) there was no way either child wanted change, and also one suspected the children wished they had never even been made aware of the switch.
D. Do you really think you could tell if someone had been brought up in a loving family, but without birth mother, even if you got to know them really well over time?

I think there is a difference between having an interest in catching up with your birth parent, and regretting that your whole upbringing wasn’t in a different environment
Posted by Edward Carson, Thursday, 11 July 2013 9:02:00 AM
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Edward, only my mother calls me Susan when she is angry with me!

We will have to agree to disagree on this subject, because I will never agree to allowing a newborn to be taken away from a fit mother who wants her baby.

That's not equality, that is cruelty...
Posted by Suseonline, Thursday, 11 July 2013 9:40:04 PM
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Susan! (In the stern voice of your mother ) :) and Edward. Please be carefully with the use of the term 'birth mother and 'birth father', I recall Tony Abbot being howled down and regailed by the media and the 'twitterati' for using that term recently, please try to employ the 'correct' terms in these areas; yes, I know that it is confusing, and you have used the most accurate language to describe the situation, nonetheless..........
Posted by Prompete, Saturday, 13 July 2013 6:07:18 PM
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Onthebeach. Could not agree more. Commissioners are redundant now that anti discrimination legislation is now law. You have a discrimination problem? Go see either the Ombudsman or a lawyer.
Posted by Prompete, Saturday, 13 July 2013 6:11:04 PM
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