Chapter 16 Australia and the US approaches to human rights

Question 1

Identify three express rights protected in the Australian Constitution

Answer 1

voting in Commonwealth elections: freedom of religion; freedom from discrimination based on State residence; right to just compensation for compulsory acquisition of land by Commonwealth; trial by jury

Question 2

Identify an implied right discovered in the Australian Constitution

Answer 2

right to vote; legal equality between States; right to political communication

Question 3

Identify the Australian statute of 1986 designed to provide an overarching way of protecting human rights

Answer 3

HREOC

Question 4

The judicial powers thought to be held by HREOC were struck down by this High Court case of 1995

Answer 4

Brandy

Question 5

The main body in Australia responsible for administering the statutes which protect human rights

Answer 5

Australian Human Rights Commission

Question 6

The standing committee established in 2011 to scrutinise Commonwealth legislation for compatibility with the international covenants and conventions to which Australia is bound

Answer 6

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights

Question 7

Optional additional treaties related to original international human rights covenants and conventions

Answer 7

protocols

Question 8

This report triggered the NT National Emergency Response (the ‘Intervention’)

Answer 8

Little Children are Sacred

Question 9

Australian States or territories which have enacted their own statutory bills of rights

Answer 9

Victoria and ACT

Question 10

The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act is an example of a bill of rights based on the principle of _____________

Answer 10

parliamentarianism

Question 11

Since the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2008 in the ACT, complainants no longer have to ‘_________’ a human rights action onto another case.

Answer 11

piggyback

Question 12

The Australian state most noted for its poor record on human rights is ____________

Answer 12

Queensland

Question 13

Both the Victorian and ACT statutory bills of rights give ‘__________ power’ to judges

Answer 13

declaratory

Question 14

Queensland inquiry which discovered widespread corruption in the 1980s.

Answer 14

Fitzgerald

Question 15

Australian laws made in this area have been criticised for supposedly breaching common law rights

Answer 15

counter terrorism

Question 16

Which rights regarding those suspected of terrorism offences have arguably been compromised by Australian laws

Answer 16

right to silence, right to know evidence against them; right to presumption of innocence

Question 17

Identify two countries which have agreed to accept a limited number of asylum seekers who have achieved refugee status from Australia

Answer 17

USA, Cambodia

Question 18

Name the Australian statute which the Malaysian Solution of 2013, which was breached according to the High Court

Answer 18

Migration Act

Question 19

For which types of rights protections does judicial supremacism exist in Australia?

Answer 19

express and implied constitutional rights

Question 20

In the US, the Bill of Rights is a series of _____ amendments to the US Constitution made shortly after its declaration,

Answer 20

10

Question 21

The US body which decides if Presidential orders are lawful.

Answer 21

Supreme Court

Question 22

Which right was upheld by the Heller v District of Columbia decision of 2008

Answer 22

owning guns for self defence

Question 23

What is the requirement in terms of Congress and other legislatures, to amend the Constitution

Answer 23

A two thirds majority vote in both Houses and then 75% of State legislatures

Question 24

The most important statute protecting human rights in the US

Answer 24

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Question 25

Two examples of common law rights in Australia which are embedded in the US Bill of Rights

Answer 25

right to silence and right to impartial jury with rules of evidence

Question 26

The US and Somalia are the only countries not to ratify this convention

Answer 26

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Question 27

The process engaged in by the US government to transfer captured terrorist suspects to countries with less rigorous human rights laws

Answer 27

extraordinary rendition