Thank you ALL for your signatures and for SHARING this Petition.. It's SO VERY important because this Petition WON'T GROW unless WE all share as much as we can with our friends, on Social Media and our families!
EVERYONE in Australia is no doubt aware of the Federal Government's BAN on Australians trapped in India RETURNING HOME for at least the next 11 days - during one of the WORLD'S worst Covid-19 surges.
Many are angry and feel that this is a racist move (because no one from the UK or the USA were actually STOPPED from returning to Australia when those countries had massive Covid19 surges!) and ALL of us have always thought being Australian Citizens MEANS we have Citizen's RIGHTS!
But DO we?
I have a copy of our Constitution printed in 2012 which was produced by the Parliamentary Education Office and the Australian Government Solicitor, Canberra; and I am sure the MAJORITY of Australia will be SHOCKED to learn that under our Constitution there are only IMPLIED Rights - that will NEED to be DECIDED by our High Court - and no ACTUAL Rights EXCEPT to CHANGE our Constitution!
The overview by the Australian Government Solicitor states:
"Rights
The Constitution has no Bill of Rights, such as that found in the United States Constitution, which prevents a legislature from passing laws that infringe basic human rights, such as freedom of speech.
Some express protections, however, are given by the Constitution against legislative or executive action by the Commonwealth, but not by the States.
Examples are: Section 51(xxxi) (acquisition of property must be ‘on just terms’),
Section 80 (trial by jury is required in relation to some criminal offences),
and section 116 (a right exists to exercise any religion).
Section 117 prohibits the Parliament of a State from discriminating against non-residents of that State. It provides, in effect, that a resident in, say, Victoria shall not be subject to any discrimination or disability in, say, Queensland unless the person would also be subject to that disability or discrimination as a resident of Queensland. (The question whether section 117 limits the lawmaking power of the Commonwealth Parliament has not yet been conclusively resolved by the High Court.)"
So DOES this MEAN that it WILL take a Citizen to be able to AFFORD to take their case to the High Court - to decide IF Australian Citizens DO actually have 'Citizen's Rights'?
And if it WAS decided we DON'T - THEN what does this MEAN?
Do our 'Rights' DEPEND on WHAT KIND of Government 'RULES' us at the time?
Part V under The Constitution gives the Commonwealth PARLIAMENT the right to make Laws
(WARNING: A very long read follows!)
"Part V – Powers of the Parliament
51. Legislative powers of the Parliament
The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power12 to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:
(i) trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States;
(ii) taxation; but so as not to discriminate between States or parts of States;
(iii) bounties on the production or export of goods, but so that such bounties shall be uniform throughout the Commonwealth;
(iv) borrowing money on the public credit of the Commonwealth;
(v) postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services;
(vi) the naval and military defence of the Commonwealth and of the several States, and the control of the forces to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth;
(vii) lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys;
(viii) astronomical and meteorological observations;
(ix) quarantine;
(x) fisheries in Australian waters beyond territorial limits;
(xi) census and statistics;
(xii) currency, coinage, and legal tender;
(xiii) banking, other than State banking; also State banking extending beyond the limits of the State concerned, the incorporation of banks, and the issue of paper money;
(xiv) insurance, other than State insurance; also State insurance extending beyond the limits of the State concerned;
(xv) weights and measures;
(xvi) bills of exchange and promissory notes;
(xvii) bankruptcy and insolvency;
(xviii) copyrights, patents of inventions and designs, and trade marks; xix) naturalization and aliens;
(xx) foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth;
(xxi) marriage;
(xxii) divorce and matrimonial causes; and in relation thereto, parental rights, and the custody and guardianship of
infants;
(xxiii) invalid and old-age pensions;
(xxiiiA)13 the provision of maternity allowances, widows’ pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services (but not so as to authorize any form of civil conscription), benefits to students and family allowances;
(xxiv) the service and execution throughout the Commonwealth of the civil and criminal process and the judgments
of the courts of the States;
(xxv) the recognition throughout the Commonwealth of the laws, the public Acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of the States;
(xxvi)14 the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws; (xxvii) immigration and emigration;
(xxviii) the influx of criminals;
(xxix) external affairs;
(xxx) the relations of the Commonwealth with the islands of the Pacific;
(xxxi) the acquisition of property on just terms from any State or person for any purpose in respect of which the Parliament has power to make laws;
(xxxii) the control of railways with respect to transport for the naval and military purposes of the Commonwealth; (xxxiii) the acquisition, with the consent of a State, of any railways of the State on terms arranged between the Commonwealth and the State;
(xxxiv) railway construction and extension in any State with the consent of that State;
(xxxv) conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State;
(xxxvi) matters in respect of which this Constitution makes provision until the Parliament otherwise provides;
(xxxvii) matters referred to the Parliament of the Commonwealth by the Parliament or Parliaments of any State or States,15 but so that the law shall extend only to States by whose Parliaments the matter is referred, or which afterwards adopt the law;
(xxxviii) the exercise within the Commonwealth, at the request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the States directly concerned, of any power which can at the establishment of this Constitution be exercised only by the Parliament of the United Kingdom or by the Federal Council of Australasia;
(xxxix) matters incidental to the execution of any power vested by this Constitution in the Parliament or in either House thereof, or in the Government of the Commonwealth, or in the Federal Judicature, or in any department or officer of the Commonwealth.
If you read all of our Constitution it is very much about the PROCEDURE for running our Governments and Parliaments - and not much about Australians at all! Because when our Constitution was WRITTEN Australian Citizens DIDN'T EXIST - we were ALL British Subjects!
The attached article discusses our (lack of) RIGHTS in very good detail including the fact that our country - even though Australia is a SIGNATORY under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - when:
"Two Australian citizens stranded overseas recently applied to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) for an order requiring Australia to bring them home. They invoked Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which says that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country”.
The UNHRC issued an interim order requesting our government bring the applicants home, pending a full hearing of the case. But here’s the problem:
international conventions and covenants to which Australia is a party have no force under Australia law, unless they have been explicitly adopted by legislation here. The covenant has not, so the government can ignore it along with the UNHRC’s ruling. Which it will."
Please read the full article - it is fascinating and rather scary..
When it comes to our Government - Australians may be rather shocked to learn that despite Government MPs and Senators SAYING they are 'concerned' and 'sympathetic' about our Citizens trapped overseas GOVERNMENT* Senators have voted TWICE - AGAINST motions 'Assisting Australians trying to return from overseas'
At the end of November LAST year AND in February THIS year..
On 15th February 2021 - the motion called on the Australian Government to:
(i) expand safe and effective federal quarantine capacity so that people stranded overseas can safely return home,
(ii) ensure that those stranded overseas can access affordable options to fly home, and
(iii) ensure that everyone is welcomed home with care and compassion.
Also in November 2020 - Government* Senators voted AGAINST keeping parliament INFORMED about:
(a) the total number of stranded Australians that returned to Australia during the identified week;
(b) the total number of stranded Australians that remain overseas, along with the total number per country in which they are stranded and broken down by;
(i) age,
(ii) gender, and
(iii) Australian state or territory of usual residence;
(c) the total number of non-Australian citizens that entered Australia during the identified week broken down by visa class and nationality.
The link is for the main 'They Vote For You' menu - type in a name and you can search how your MP/Senators vote..
Their page will bring up how they have voted on MANY different subjects but because for some HORRIBLE reason(?) - our STRANDED Citizens seem to be a PARTISAN issue(?!)
I am pretty sure if you search - that you will find ALL LNP* Senators VOTED STRONGLY AGAINST these motions!
[Edited: *The motions were never voted on in the Lower House so Government MPs COULDN'T vote against them. Haven't checked to see if anyone TRIED to introduce them as the Government controls the Lower House Agenda - why THIS #FederalIntegrityCommission Bill can't get ONTO a Lower House Agenda!]
BASED on this - it seems it is VERY much about WHO the Politicians are - THEIR ETHICS AND BELIEFS - and WHO have the POWER/NUMBERS to DECIDE - whether in a pandemic or other disaster YOU and YOURS get ASSISTED to come home - or LEFT to struggle on your own..
Or maybe even BANNED?
So while Australia NEEDS a STRONG, RETROSPECTIVE Federal Integrity Commission to oversee our Politicians BEHAVIOUR and to PREVENT as much as possible rorting of OUR Public money and corruption..
(and to Investigate and refer for prosecution if it DOES happen!) with Whistleblower Protection so Public Servants aren't at risk of PROSECUTION and AFRAID to come forward!)
Perhaps we need to DEMAND a Bill of Rights for Australians too?
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
Thomas Jefferson (1997). “Thomas Jefferson, His Words and Vision”, p.18, Peter Pauper Press, Inc.