| The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated so external links may no longer function. Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein. |
TITLE: AUSTRALIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
AUSTRALIA
Australia has a federal system of government and a long history
as a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Federal, state, and
local police carry out their functions in accordance with the
requirements of the law, which respects and safeguards
individual human rights.
Australia has a developed economy, which includes
manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and services, providing
most Australians with a high per capita income. A wide range
of government programs offer assistance for the minority of
relatively disadvantaged citizens, but fiscal constraints are
affecting the amount made available. People are free to hold
private property, pursue economic and personal interests,
associate with others, and organize trade unions.
Basic human rights are ensured by law and respected in
practice. The Government is firmly committed, both
domestically and internationally, to the promotion of, and
respect for, human rights.
In part as a result of the April 1991 report of the Royal
Commission, which investigated the deaths of Aboriginals while
in custody, the Government administers many programs aimed at
improving the socioeconomic conditions of Aboriginals and
Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI), who together form about 1.6
percent of the population, and addressing longstanding
discrimination against them.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Killing for political motives by the Government or by political
organizations does not occur.
The April 1991 Report of the Royal Commission investigating the
deaths of ATSI in custody stated that, although the deaths were
not caused deliberately, police and prison officials showed
callous indifference and remarkable insensitivity, which
contributed significantly to the deaths. The Commission also
found that although ATSI died at approximately the same rate as
others in prison, ATSI persons were arrested at a rate 29 times
that of whites.
In a report issued in August, the Australian Institute of
Criminology stated that deaths among the overall population in
custody have not fallen in the period since the Royal
Commission completed its work. The Institute noted that during
the last 2 years, the overall number of deaths had been
essentially constant: 61 in 1991 and 62 in 1992.
In contrast, however, Aboriginal deaths in custody were
reported to have fallen from 11 in 1991 (18.0 percent) to 7 in
1992 (11.3 percent). Further, the rate of deaths per 1,000
persons in custody was significantly lower for Aboriginals than
for others--a notable improvement over previous data attesting
to a somewhat higher rate of deaths among Aboriginal prisoners.
b. Disappearance
There have been no instances of political disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
Australian law prohibits all these practices, and this
prohibition is generally respected. In April 1991, however,
the Royal Commission investigating ATSI deaths in custody
indicated it had found credible evidence that ATSI had
frequently been mistreated while in custody, and it recommended
several steps to reduce the number of arrests and improve the
treatment of ATSI prisoners to avoid further deaths. During
1993 federal and state authorities continued to address the
problem of deaths and mistreatment of Aboriginals in custody by
means of police reform, including improved detention procedures
and training courses in Aboriginal culture.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Australian law prohibits arbitrary arrest and imprisonment.
This prohibition is respected in practice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
Australia's well-developed system of federal and state courts
is fully independent. Both in law and in practice, defendants
receive due process, including a presumption of innocence, a
right to confront witnesses, and a right of appeal. On the
other hand, previous practice in federal and state cases has
not always required that the Government pay for an indigent
defendant's lawyer.
All Australian states except New South Wales have obliged
people involved in criminal cases to meet a merit test before
qualifying for legal aid. The purpose of the merit test is to
save the Government from "wasting funds on unwinnable cases."
Under these procedures, many, but not all, defendants in
serious criminal cases have been found to deserve legal
counsel. If the case was considered futile, the defendant was
denied counsel at public expense. An unfavorable decision
could be appealed to a panel of independent lawyers and social
workers appointed by the Legal Aid Commission.
The High Court has stated that it would be an exceptional case
in which a person accused of serious charges could be tried
fairly without a lawyer. In 1993 the State of Victoria took
account of this decision by abolishing a previous restriction
whereby counsel would not be provided if the cost was thought
likely to exceed a specified amount, which at the end of 1993
equated to about $130,000.
Defendants, including ATSI, appearing before an Australian
Defense Force magistrate in cases subject to military
jurisdiction, are exempt from the merit test. The Government
maintains offices of special legal counsel for persons of ATSI
descent, who are always entitled to receive legal aid.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Under Australian law and in practice, no search may be
conducted without a judicially issued warrant. The Government
does not interfere with the privacy of family, home, or
correspondence.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
A democratic political system, an effective judiciary, and
diverse, vigorous, and independent news media combine to
protect freedom of speech and press and full academic freedom.
But Australia does not have a bill of rights, and journalists
are sometimes subjected to court proceedings aimed at
compelling them to reveal confidential sources. In May a South
Australian journalist was fined about $3,200 for refusing to
reveal sources for a published report alleging that criminal
behavior was involved in financial losses by the State Bank of
South Australia. In September a New South Wales journalist
received a 2-month suspended sentence for refusing to reveal
sources for an article on police corruption.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Australia does not have a written Bill of Rights but is a party
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
which provides for freedom of assembly and expression; these
freedoms are respected in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion
Australians have complete freedom of religion. A provision in
the Constitution precludes the adoption of an official state
religion.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Australia imposes no restrictions on movement within or outside
the country. The rights of emigration and repatriation are
also protected.
The Government removes from Australia boat people whose
applications for asylum or humanitarian admission are denied.
In late 1992, the Australian High Court upheld the Government's
right to detain boat people pending adjudication of their
cases. As of September 30, 1993, Australian authorities had
granted refugee status to 141 boat people, including 8 children
born in Australia, out of some 540 applications from persons
who had arrived since 1989, primarily from Cambodia, China, and
Vietnam. Two hundred forty-one boat people were still being
held in various detention camps, pending court decisions.
In an August 13 submission to Parliament's Joint Standing
Committee on Migration, the Department of Immigration and
Ethnic Affairs stated, "It is of concern that some
unauthorized arrivals have been held in detention for very long
periods: in some cases for more than 3 1/2 years." The
Attorney General's Department addressed this same point in its
own submission to the Joint Standing Committee, noting the
requirement of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights that detention not be excessively long. At
the request of the Joint Standing Committee, the Canberra
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also
submitted comments, indicating that detentions were unduly
prolonged in some cases and possibly contravened Article 31 (1)
of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
The status of 19,000 Chinese, who had been students in
Australia at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre,
and their 9,500 dependents, was regularized in November 1993
when the Australian Government granted them permanent resident
status. Prior to the regularization of their status, they had
received a clear commitment that none would be returned to
China against their will, unless they broke the law. They had
also been given provisional status through the granting of
temporary residence permits valid for 4 years.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Australians elect representatives to a two-chamber Federal
Parliament as well as to numerous state and local bodies
through free and open elections. Voting, by secret ballot, is
compulsory in general elections for Australians 18 years of age
and older; voters who do not at least collect ballots may be
fined, and fines are in fact levied.
Indigenous people are able to participate fully in Australia's
political processes. They do so as voters, members of
political parties, and candidates for elected office.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
A wide range of local nongovernmental organizations concerned
with human rights operates freely, and the Government permits
unimpeded access to all international groups investigating
alleged human rights violations. Australia actively promotes
human rights.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Women
Analysts and commentators state that violence in the home,
mainly carried out by men against women, has enormous social
and economic costs. Previous estimates suggested that domestic
violence may affect as many as one Australian family in three
or four, but government officials stress the impossibility of
providing an accurate national profile of the number of women
who are victims of domestic violence, because of underreporting
and the lack of an agreed method for collecting statistics.
The Government continued its community education campaign aimed
at ending violence against women, operating under a 3-year
budget of about $2.3 million. The National Committee on
Violence Against Women produced a national strategy focused on
the role of all levels of government in eliminating violence
against women; it was endorsed by ministerial councils
consisting of federal and state ministers with similar
responsibilities.
The Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 prohibits discrimination on
the basis of sex, marital status, or pregnancy, and in late
1992 Parliament enacted amendments which significantly
strengthened it. Separate 1986 legislation on affirmative
action obliges employers to provide equal employment and equal
promotion opportunities for female employees.
Because of widespread concern about perceived bias against
women in the legal system, the Australian Law Reform Commission
initiated an inquiry into the equality of women before the
law. Women's rights and welfare are promoted by
community-based women's organizations, women's advisers in each
of the states, and by the Government's Office of the Status of
Women.
Children
The National Child Protection Council, a Commonwealth-funded
body which also includes representatives of state governments
as well as community members, promotes and conducts research on
the prevention of child abuse and child neglect. The Council
is examining the feasibility of a National Community Education
Program, and it actively cooperates with nongovernmental
organizations.
In September the Government issued a national strategy aimed at
preventing child abuse and creating an environment which
supports families and communities and helps them meet their
responsibilities to care for and protect children.
In a report made public later in that same month, a senior
judge of the Family Court of Australia strongly criticized the
State of Victoria's plan to reduce funding for child protection
services by $5 million. Adverse findings included charges that
the Children's Court was threatened by primitive conditions,
overcrowding, overwork, and a lack of resources; that
insufficient resources were being allocated for the
introduction of mandatory reporting of child abuse; and that
the state government had "virtually abandoned the care and
protection" of homeless adolescents.
Indigenous People
The Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 prohibits discrimination
on grounds of race, color, descent, or national or ethnic
origin, and most Australians have equal access to government
services. In practice, however, ATSI continued to suffer
abusive treatment and widespread discrimination. As a remedial
measure, on both the federal and state level, police training
now includes more emphasis on race sensitivity.
Because the Aboriginal population is the most disadvantaged
group in relation to education, housing, health, and
employment, the federal and state governments provide special
services which supplement the broad range of programs that are
available to all Australians. These special services are aimed
at improving socioeconomic conditions among ATSI.
Parliament established the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Commission to give ATSI more control over many
government programs intended for their benefit and also set up
the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, which is
coordinating a 10-year program to promote better understanding
between ATSI and other Australians. In September the State of
Western Australia announced a plan aimed at quadrupling the
number of Aboriginal police officers over a 5-year period.
Observers affiliated with Aboriginal groups generally supported
federal and state programs but tended to describe them as
underfunded. Further, they noted that much of the underlying
problem of racial discrimination stemmed from deeply rooted
personal attitudes and views, expressing doubt that government
programs, although valuable in themselves, will produce notable
results in the short run. In addition, these observers
questioned whether federal and state police authorities had
shown sufficient diligence and energy in pursuing police reform.
Spokespersons for Aboriginal groups also stressed the need for
appropriate and nondiscriminatory legislation that would assist
in resolving property disputes involving Aboriginal groups who
claimed traditional ownership of land as a matter of native
title under common law. In their view, it would not be
sufficient for federal and state governments to guarantee
existing titles and award financial compensation to Aboriginal
groups whose interests might have been adversely affected by
the Crown's past land grants (e.g., freehold title, pastoral
leases, mining leases). Instead, they asserted, the principles
of justice and nondiscriminatory treatment required that
Aboriginal groups be entitled to recover actual ownership as a
result of lawsuits that met criteria (e.g., ongoing and
uninterrupted access to and use of the land) established by the
High Court in its landmark Mabo Decision (1992), which, in
part, had been based on provisions of the Racial Discrimination
Act.
The Government continued its commitment to promote
intercultural understanding and to address better the needs of
ethnic groups through a national multicultural agenda.
People with Disabilities
The Federal Disability Discrimination Act (1992) complements
state laws prohibiting discrimination. It is administered by
the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, a
Commonwealth body whose first Disability Discrimination
Commissioner was appointed in February. Federal officials are
currently developing a national disability strategy based on
the U.N. Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities
for Persons with Disabilities. Ensuring access to public
buildings is required by the Disability Discrimination Act and,
in part, is addressed in building codes. Australian
authorities are investigating ways to improve compliance in
practice.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Australian law and practice provide workers, including public
servants, freedom of association both domestically and
internationally. According to figures released by the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 1993, 39.6 percent of
the work force is unionized. Unions are closely aligned with
the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and supply 60 percent of the
voting delegates at ALP congresses. However, the Labor
Government does not influence union policies, which are often
at variance with its own, despite the fact that several key
ministers were once trade union officials.
In response to a November 1992 finding by the International
Labor Organization (ILO) that the legal requirement for unions
to have at least 10,000 workers in order to be registered under
the federal system could "unduly influence workers' free choice
of unions," the Government repealed this provision on December
16, 1993, with amendments (effective March 1994) to the
Industrial Relations Act of 1988. Inter alia, these amendments
extended enterprise bargaining to the nonunionized sector and
created a labor court to adjudicate secondary boycott and
good-faith bargaining questions.
Australian workers enjoy the right to strike, which is well
established in practice. This right had not been protected
under domestic law. However, the Government included explicit
recognition of the right to strike in the December 16, 1993,
legislation. In general, industrial disputes are resolved
through direct employer-union negotiations or under the
auspices of the various state and federal industrial relations
commissions whose mandates include compulsory conciliation and
arbitration.
According to ABS figures released on December 20, 1993, in the
12 months ending September 1993, there were 631 reported
disputes involving 1,065,100 persons and 1,165,800 working days
lost. The number of disputes is the lowest on record in a
12-month period since the ABS series was first compiled in
December 1981, and represents a 50-year low according to other
available statistics. On a proportional basis (working days
lost per thousand employees), the coal mining industry
experienced the greatest number of labor disputes. Overall,
there were no significant strikes in 1993.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Australian workers are granted the right, by law and in
practice, to organize and bargain collectively, and to be
represented in negotiating the prevention and settlement of
disputes with employers. Workers are also protected by law and
in practice from antiunion discrimination. The Government
enhanced existing protection against unfair dismissal in its
December 16, 1993, legislation, along lines specified in ILO
guidelines.
A pattern of centralized minimum wage awards and quasi-judicial
arbitration, supplemented by industrywide or company-by-company
collective bargaining, has generally prevailed since 1904, when
the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission was
established. The Industrial Relations Act of 1988 made
technical changes in the system, creating a new Industrial
Relations Commission which focuses more on its quasi-judicial
dispute settlement role. At the same time, the Government has
encouraged the spread of decentralized enterprise collective
bargaining, in order to relate wage increases more to gains in
productivity.
In November 1992, the newly elected Conservative Government in
the State of Victoria introduced a series of laws which, the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions alleged,
forced 800,000 workers to sign individual employment contracts
as opposed to collective agreements and outlawed almost all
strikes and limited pickets. Following a strike and protest
demonstrations, the Federal Government acted to incorporate
most, if not all, of these workers under the federal Industrial
Relations Law to protect their trade union rights.
Export processing zones (EPZ's) do not exist in Australia.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Although there are no laws regarding forced labor, Australia
fully respects the ILO's conventions concerning forced labor,
and forced labor is not practiced.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
There is no federally mandated minimum age for employment, but
state-imposed compulsory education requirements, monitored and
enforced by state educational authorities, prevent children
from joining the work force until they are 15 to 16 years old,
except in individual cases involving administrative approval
for absence from school because of reasons such as illness,
disability, or family hardship. In addition, federal and state
ministries of labor monitor and enforce a complicated network
of legislation (which varies from state to state) governing
such interrelated factors as minimum school-leaving age,
minimum age to claim unemployment benefits, and minimum age to
engage in specified occupations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
Australia has long had a tradition that workers should be
guaranteed a decent standard of living. The degree of wage
comparability for women is one of the highest in the world, and
pay equity was enacted in legislation passed on December 16,
1993. Although a formal minimum wage exists, it is not used.
Instead, most workers are covered by differing minimum wage
rates for individual trades and professions, as embodied in a
comprehensive system of "awards" determined by the various
quasi-judicial state and federal industrial relations
commissions, after submissions by union, employer, and
government representatives. In many cases involving individual
business enterprises, the commissions approve wage rates
previously negotiated and agreed upon by employers and unions.
Where market conditions warrant, employees are often paid
higher wages than those provided for in industrial awards
("over-award payments"). About 80 percent of wage and salary
earners are covered by awards. The remaining 20 percent are
mostly management-level employees or are self-employed. There
are no trades whose awards are below the formal minimum wage.
The lowest current federal award of about US$221 (A$328) per
38-hour week is for clothing workers. Combined with other
regularly provided benefits and government entitlements for
low-income families, this wage provides a decent standard of
living for a worker and his family. Real monetary wages for
the average worker declined over the past decade, but a
comprehensive social welfare program maintained a social safety
net under lower paid workers.
The majority of workers are employees of incorporated
organizations. For them, a complex body of federal and state
regulations, as well as decisions of the corresponding
industrial relations commissions, prescribes a 40-hour or
shorter workweek, paid vacations, sick leave, and other
benefits, including at least one 24-hour rest period. In a
limited number of cases, workplace health and safety standards
are also prescribed. Federal or State safety laws apply to
every workplace.
An intergovernmental body called the National Occupational
Health and Safety Commission (also known as "Worksafe
Australia") develops advisory standards and codes of practice
which can be a basis for new laws. The Occupational Health and
Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act of 1991 gives a federal
employee the legal right to cease work if he or she believes
that particular work activities pose an immediate threat to
health or safety. Most states and territories have laws that
grant similar rights to their employees. At a minimum, private
sector employees have recourse to state health and safety
commissions, which will investigate complaints and enjoin
remedial action as appropriate. Some states and territories
also have legislation empowering trained private sector workers
(in firms with more than 10 employees) to suspend any activity
they deem unsafe. (###)
[end of document]
Return
to 1993 Human Rights Practices report home page.
Return to DOSFAN
home page.
This is an official U.S. Government source
for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links
does not imply endorsement of contents.