ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell wants to extend the territory's human rights regime to include economic, social and cultural rights.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Mr Corbell told a gathering commemorating 20 years of ACT anti-discrimination laws that he would be pushing his cabinet colleagues to put the territory out in front of other jurisdictions again on rights legislation.
Former chief minister Rosemary Follett was joined at the event in the Legislative Assembly by former MLAs Bernard Collaery, Michael Moore and Bill Stefaniak to re-enact the debate on the territory's first Discrimination Act in October 1991.
Human Rights Commissioner Helen Watchirs and the former chief minister Jon Stanhope were also on hand to watch the key players reprise their roles of 20 years ago.
The Attorney-General took the opportunity to tell the audience that he wanted to put into action the recommendations of a report produced last year, on economic, social and cultural rights.
Mr Corbell wanted to see the territory's controversial 2005 Human Rights Act, the nation's first, extended again.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety participated in a research project in 2009 and 2010 into the feasibility of including economic, social and cultural rights in the Human Rights Act.
The report recommended the extension of the Human Rights Act to include the right to housing, health, food, water, social security, a healthy environment, education, the right to work and the right to take part in cultural life.
The matter is listed to be debated by cabinet in the coming months but yesterday belonged to the architects of the territory's original Discrimination Act.
The Bill, which had bi-partisan beginnings in the messy and unstable early days of self-government, was finally introduced by Ms Follett, Labor's first chief minister, in October, 1991.
Ms Follett said yesterday the enactment of the first piece of discrimination legislation 20 years ago had set the territory on an ''amazing journey.''
''It's been an amazing journey over the past 20 years and for most of that time, its been above politics, the pursuit of human rights, and we can be very proud of that,'' Ms Follett said.
''We can also be very proud as a community that not only do we lead the way on human rights, but that seems to be the way that the community wants it.''
Mr Collaery, attorney-general under the Community Alliance government, said he too wanted the territory's human rights regime extended.
''We've got significant shortcomings in the Bill, we must copy the UK,'' the barrister and lawyer said.
''The UK Human Rights Act has led to massive reform in corrective services and health and to their credit, the current UK is bringing in financial penalties now on statutory agencies for corporate homicide.
''But the really important thing is to be preventative rather than punitive.''
This reporter is on Twitter: @noeltowell