MEDIA RELEASE

Uniting Church welcomes human rights report

8 October 2009

An historic report has found that human rights need greater protection in Australia, says the Uniting Church in Australia.

The National Human Rights Consultation has received an unprecedented 35 000 submissions on the everyday human rights experiences of Australians, and has identified a number of areas where basic human rights are not protected.

President of the Church, Rev. Alistair Macrae, said “I welcome the report from the National Human Rights Consultation and urge the Australian Government to begin work on implementing its recommendations, including introducing a Human Rights Act.

The Uniting Church has been a strong supporter of the national consultation process.

Rev. Macrae said “We are grateful for the hard work of the Committee and I congratulate them on the strength and breadth of the consultation process.

“The number of responses to this consultation is an extremely strong indicator that this is an issue Australians are passionate about.

“The Uniting Church believes the report is a significant step in the process of ensuring that the law reflects the opinion of Australians; that every person is valuable and deserves to live with dignity and be treated with respect,” said Rev. Macrae.

The Uniting Church in Australia has been advocating for the development of a Human Rights Act for Australia to ensure that those most vulnerable in our society have their human rights upheld in federal government policies and practice.

Rev. Macrae said, “We are extremely pleased that the Consultation Report has recognised the experience of Indigenous Australians with human rights, recommended a comprehensive human rights education framework and acknowledged the importance of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights, to the Australian community.

“The Uniting Church calls on the Federal Government to adopt and implement the recommendations in this report and better protect the human rights of all Australians, especially our most vulnerable, including people with disabilities, people who are homeless, elderly people and Indigenous Australians among others,” said Rev. Macrae.

It is the hope of the Uniting Church that the Federal Government, the Opposition and all parliamentarians will support a Human Rights Act for Australia.