Types of Bills of Rights

Background

There are two types of bills of rights:

• statutory; or
• constitutional.

A constitutional bill of rights is incorporated into the constitution itself. The advantage of having such rights written into the Constitution is that they are 'entrenched' and cannot be amended or removed by any government without the overwhelming approval of the people voting at a referendum to amend the Constitution.(See Section 128 of the Constitution)

On the other hand, a statutory bills of rights is just like any other legislation government may enact. The rights contained in legislation (such as the Racial Discrimination Act 1975), are not entrenched. They may be amended or repealed by any government with the consent of Parliament.

In respect of ABRI, we consider it important to:

• discuss the general proposition of a bill of rights;
• either by means of constitutional entrenchment or statutory enactment;
• at Commonwealth level.

At the very least, ABRI hopes to achieve the creation of a forum to discuss the contents of a draft aspirational statement of the rights that Australian citizens ought to have.