(New York) Human Rights Watch warned that a bill before the Australian parliament today, if passed, would undermine Australia's commitment to the human rights treaties it has ratified.
The Administrative Decisions (Effect of International Instruments) Bill 1999 would prevent a person from challenging an administrative decision on the basis that the decision-maker failed to take into account rights granted by international treaties to which Australia is a party. The bill passed the House of Representatives on May 5, 2000, and is expected to have its second reading debate in the Senate on Thursday.
The Bill would overturn the so-called Teoh decision, a 1995 ruling by the High Court that it was reasonable for a person to expect that the government would take into account its international treaty obligations in making administrative decisions, even if the provisions of the treaty had not been incorporated into Australian law. The treaty in question was the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
"This bill is an overreaction by the government to the decision in the Teoh case and is a step backwards-not just for Australia but for human rights protection more generally," said Sidney Jones, director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.
The High Court said in the Teoh case that ratification of an international convention should not be dismissed as a "merely platitudinous" act but as "a positive statement by the executive government of this country to the world and to the Australian people that the executive government and its agencies will act in accordance with the Convention."
Other courts, including in the UK and New Zealand, have followed the Teoh decision. The superior courts of these countries, which share the same legal system as Australia, clearly believe that this procedural right is consistent with the recognized roles of the courts, the Parliament and the executive in implementing international law into domestic law.
The right to challenge a decision on the basis that it was made without reference to the many human rights treaties Australia has ratified is important for at least two reasons. The first is that Australia has failed to fully incorporate its treaty obligations into Australian law, and the second is that Australia has no bill of rights. The Teoh decision thus gave important additional protection to those living under Australian jurisdiction.
