Human Rights Under the Australian Constitution

The role of the High Court in interpreting the Constitution to protect human rights raises issues that go to the core of Australian democracy. Human Rights under the Australian Constitution is a thorough and accessible work that explores the decisions of the High Court on express and implied constitutional rights, as well as underlying themes of constitutional interpretation. The work of the High Court is placed is context. The drafting of the Australian Constitution is examined, as is the role of the common law, statute law, and international law. There is also a focus on international instruments, such as International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1996, and on comparative law, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United States Bill of Rights. The potential constitutional or statutory reform to produce an Australian Bill of Rights is explored in the final chapter. Human Rights under the Australian Constitution is a major contribution to scholarship on human rights and constitutional law in Australia.Practitioners, students, and teachers in the fields of constitutional law, human rights law, and political science will find this book a comprehensive and thoughtful treatment of this area of the law and its relationship to Australian political culture.