Why I’ll take the approach of a classical liberal to human rights

As Human Rights Commissioner I want to promote a culture of rights and responsibilities so that every Australian understands their rights and confidently stands up for them against government encroachment.

Because human rights are a political construct, there are numerous ways that they can be approached. Each perspective weights the relative integrity of rights when they come into conflict with other rights and worthy societal aspirations.

A legalistic perspective draws rights from important international treaties such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A social justice perspective views rights as a tool to address economic, social and governance inequality.

As commissioner, I will be approaching human rights from a classical liberal perspective. Human rights are the foundations of classical thought. Broadly, a classical liberal approach believes that people own their own lives; rights are universal and can be reasonably consistently exercised by individuals to pursue their happiness and enterprise.

Classical liberals necessarily view human rights narrowly such as freedom of speech, association, worship, protection of property and protection against arbitrary detention. In balancing competing rights, deference is towards more freedom, not less.

Importantly, classical liberals elevate these birth rights to sacrosanct principles that should not be disposed of when they become a nuisance to collective aspirations. Without rights, individuals are exposed to the tyranny of the majority. In practice it means defending individuals from the abuse of power by government.

I’ll be engaging in formal consultation with the many human rights groups that regularly identify violations, such as the problems faced by asylum-seekers in detention, as well as the continued challenges posed by indigenous Australians.

The Australian Human Rights Commission, rightly, already works extensively on these issues. But it is important that incremental violations of the rights of everyday Australians are also heard.

Many Australians have already reached out to highlight the rights violations they face.

One small-business woman has been harassed by a government agency demanding private information about her activities with penalties for failure to comply.

A medium-size business owner outlined how his property rights are being attacked through the courts because a government agency would rather only small businesses operated in that market.

These issues will be brought to the fore by the Australian Law Reform Commission’s forthcoming inquiry into traditional rights, freedoms and privileges.

More immediately, the federal government has flagged reforms to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act to remove unnecessary restrictions on free speech that offends, insults, humiliates or intimidates people on the basis of their race, colour or national or ethnic origin.

There are diverse views on whether section 18C should be left alone, modestly changed or fully repealed. I will be arguing for its full repeal on the grounds it conflicts with other human rights and therefore does not meet the threshold for restricting speech.

Similarly, issues surrounding rights of privacy in the context of national security, internet freedom, the limitations on copyright and the extent of defamation law, to name a few, will arise.

The role of commissioner is to stand up for human rights, but a benchmark for success is that Australians understand what their rights are, and are confident defending them.

Tim Wilson is Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner.