Learn from the mistakes of others

here in australia, we do not have a bill or rights. or any comprehensive statement of individual and/or collective rights. our constitution provides very few guarantees for us, the people. unlike the usa or canada. indeed a great many industrialised democracies. practically all of our legal rights are set out in subordinate legislation. and further complicate dby the federal-state-territory distribution of powers and responsibilities.

the many arguments for and against a bill of rights in australia have been neatly summarised elsewhere by one of our high court justices, justice michael kirby (an internationally respected human rights jurist).

into this mess, we have the notion of the universal id card as a panacea for all manner of ills and wrongs. some of which arise because we lack a definitive statement of the rights, privileges and responsibilities of individuals in our society.


mr howard, 'our' prime minister briefly supported a call from a state premier to introduce a national id card.

the age has since reported that the (federal) govt rules out national id card scheme.


as a bit of background, when a previous government suggested intorducing such a system, among it's loudest detracters was mr howard.

it's a very curious thing to see how easily even politicians are affected by their own efforts to induce short-term memory in the population.

here in australia, we do not have a bill or rights. or any comprehensive statement of individual and/or collective rights. our constitution provides very few guarantees for us, the people. unlike the usa or canada. indeed a great many industrialised democracies. practically all of our legal rights are set out in subordinate legislation. and further complicate dby the federal-state-territory distribution of powers and responsibilities.

the many arguments for and against a bill of rights in australia have been neatly summarised elsewhere by one of our high court justices, justice michael kirby (an internationally respected human rights jurist).

into this mess, we have the notion of the universal id card as a panacea for all manner of ills and wrongs. some of which arise because we lack a definitive statement of the rights, privileges and responsibilities of individuals in our society.


mr howard, 'our' prime minister briefly supported a call from a state premier to introduce a national id card.

the age has since reported that the (federal) govt rules out national id card scheme.


as a bit of background, when a previous government suggested intorducing such a system, among it's loudest detracters was mr howard.

it's a very curious thing to see how easily even politicians are affected by their own efforts to induce short-term memory in the population.