The Palaszczuk Government’s announcement of plans to introduce a Human Rights Bill to State Parliament has been welcomed by PeakCare, a Queensland child protection peak body.
“The history of child protection is littered with gross violations of human rights, both of children and parents, for which governments have had to regularly say they’re sorry,” says PeakCare’s Executive Director Lindsay Wegener.
“The apology to the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse by the Prime Minister last week is the latest in a long line of apologies with undoubtedly more yet to come,” says Lindsay.
“Interestingly, governments of all political persuasions appear to unite when it comes to realising their responsibilities to say sorry to groups of citizens who have suffered maltreatment and the trampling of their human rights,” he says. “It was a Labor Prime Minister who apologised to those who suffered through the era of the Stolen Generations when government policy at the time ripped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families apart, an LNP Premier apologised for forced adoptions that devastated the lives of both adopted children and their birth parents, a Labor Prime Minister said sorry to Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants, and the most recent apology was delivered by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a Liberal.
“The challenge now to be dealt with by all political parties and governments is about taking the steps needed to ensure that conditions exist today whereby there will be no need for further apologies in the tomorrows that lie ahead,” he says.
PeakCare says a Human Rights Act will go a long way towards removing the need for further apologies and calls for bi-partisanship in supporting the new legislation.
“All political parties should be committed to the protection and preservation of the human rights and entitlements of Queensland citizens,” says Lindsay. “This includes not only those impacted by the child protection system, but also those who are engaged with aged care, health care, education, justice, and youth and adult correctional systems. At different times and in different circumstances, that just about covers all of us.”
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