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The Forum > Article Comments > Our fragile liberty > Comments

Our fragile liberty : Comments

By Bruce Haigh, published 25/2/2013

As long as Australia does not have a bill of rights, transgressions against individual freedoms are made easier.

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It might shock you but 7 billion people not want to come here runner.
Posted by Marilyn Shepherd, Monday, 25 February 2013 6:23:28 PM
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what is stopping our enlightened legislators from (a) amending the Constitution to remove some odious loathful provisions and (b) inserting a bill of rights?

They wouldn't need to go on a fact-finding world tour for that - every schoolboy knows what they are.

Oh, there aren't any new ones as far as I'm aware: the furphy on privacy is just that: a furphy. There is no such thing as a 'right' to privacy, just a right of freedom from restraint or coercion - or blackmail. There are other words but these will suffice.
Posted by SHRODE, Monday, 25 February 2013 6:43:36 PM
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Our liberties are indeed fragile, and have been fought for, often painfully. Especially the rights of minorities. While I have great sympathy for refugees, especially from countries rendered uninhabitable by Australian war-mongering with big brother USA, I do not want to fill the land with people who will never treat women as equals, who will never accept that homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexuality, who think children are there to serve their parents unquestioningly, even at the expense of their own well-being. I do not want asylum seekers who bring with them all their religious and racist intolerance and hatreds.
A Bill of rights and responsibilities would be a handy tool. All immigrants should be required to read it and answer questions, then sign a binding document swearing to uphold these rights, the forfeit for not doing so being repatriation to their own country. Yes, I know those already here can be racist and ill disposed towards minorities, but at least we shouldn't be importing more bigots to destroy what's left of our freedom and tolerance.
Posted by ybgirp, Monday, 25 February 2013 7:46:49 PM
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Dear runner,

Nobody denied it? You denied it. You wrote, "...welcomed people from many nations." That is simply not true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Australia_policy

The term White Australia Policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia. It came into fruition with Federation in 1901, and the policies were progressively dismantled between 1949 and 1973.

Competition in the goldfields, labour disputes and Australian nationalism created an environment of racial antagonism during the second half of the 19th century. Such factors led to the passage of the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901, one of the first Acts of the national parliament following federation. The passage of this bill is considered the commencement of the White Australia Policy as Australian government policy. Subsequent acts further strengthened the policy up to the start of World War II.[1] These policies effectively allowed for the privileging of British migrants over all others through the first decades of the 20th century.

The policy was dismantled in stages by several successive governments after the conclusion of World War II, with the encouragement of first non-British and later non-white immigration, allowing for a large multi-ethnic post-war program of immigration. The Menzies and Holt Governments effectively dismantled the policies between 1949 and 1966 and the Whitlam Government passed laws to ensure that race would be totally disregarded as a component for immigration to Australia in 1973. In 1975 the Whitlam Government passed the Racial Discrimination Act, which made racially-based selection criteria illegal. In the decades since, Australia has maintained largescale multi-ethnic immigration
Posted by david f, Monday, 25 February 2013 8:05:53 PM
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Dear David F,

Runner has a point. His initial comment was: << our early settlers…welcomed people from many nations>>

And there were many who came to Australia in the early days who were not of British stock.

One example is here: “the Italians appealed to the British consul for aid. Sir Henry Parkes, the colonial secretary of New South Wales,[3] responded to their request[4] and arranged travel for the settlers on the James Patterson[1][3] to Sydney”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Rays_Expedition
Posted by SPQR, Tuesday, 26 February 2013 6:13:59 AM
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Dear SPQR,

It is true. I have been at the Italian colony in New South Wales. The Italians had been sold a bill of goods by a shady character in the nineteenth century to settle in the south sea islands which were painted as idyllic. After many died from disease they were rescued and brought to Australia.

The truth is that the early settlers were a mixed bag. However, runner paints them all as noble characters. Many weren't.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 26 February 2013 8:13:16 AM
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