2006•Alternative Law JournalOpen access
A Charter of (Some) Rights… for Some?
Melissa Castan, David Yarrow
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Abstract
On 25th July 2006, the Charter of Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) ('the Charter') received royal assent. It will commence on 1 January 2007, making Victoria the first Australian state to adopt a Charter of Rights (not to mention Responsibilities!). The Charter is based on the Human Rights Consultative Committee which delivered its report to the Attorney General in December 2005. The Charter was said to be based on human rights laws that operate in the Australian Capital Territory, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Consistently with those laws, the Committee did not recommend and the Charter does not address the very first right captured in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), that is the right to self-determination. Castan and Yarrow argue that there are no reasonable grounds for excluding self-determination from the Charter.