Tas Liberals oppose charter of rights
The Australian Christian Lobby welcomes yesterday’s announcement by the Tasmanian Liberals not to support a Charter of Humans Rights and Responsibilities in Tasmania.
ACL is urging new Premier Lara Giddings drop the policy and learn from mistakes made overseas.
The ACL is opposed to a Charter of Rights because it hands unprecedented power to unelected judges over moral and social policy.
The ACL is concerned that minority-interest groups would achieve its self-serving goals not readily achievable through the democratic process.
For example, in Canada under its charter of rights, judges ruled that tobacco advertising is a form of free speech and overturned laws that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
The Greens also used Victoria’s charter of rights to attack the freedom of churches and Christian schools to employ staff who reflect a Christian ethos.
ACL believes the best way to protect human rights is through legislation which is debated in parliament. ACL successfully proved this point when it campaigned against a federal Charter of Rights last year.
ACL is urging new Premier Lara Giddings drop the policy and learn from mistakes made overseas.
The ACL is opposed to a Charter of Rights because it hands unprecedented power to unelected judges over moral and social policy.
The ACL is concerned that minority-interest groups would achieve its self-serving goals not readily achievable through the democratic process.
For example, in Canada under its charter of rights, judges ruled that tobacco advertising is a form of free speech and overturned laws that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
The Greens also used Victoria’s charter of rights to attack the freedom of churches and Christian schools to employ staff who reflect a Christian ethos.
ACL believes the best way to protect human rights is through legislation which is debated in parliament. ACL successfully proved this point when it campaigned against a federal Charter of Rights last year.
Adult desires could trump kids’ rights in Tasmanian surrogacy push
Media Release
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today urged the Tasmanian Government not to go down the same path as Victoria and Queensland in allowing two men, two women and even single people to acquire a baby through surrogacy – thereby depriving the children of the complementary love and care of a mother and a father.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said surrogacy was fraught with emotional, biological and legal complexities for children, as well as for women who carry someone else’s baby.
“We urge Tasmanians to put forward their concerns on this issue and for the Tasmanian Government to ensure that they engage in genuine consultation rather than treating the legalisation of surrogacy as a fait accompli,” Mr Wallace said.
“If the Government does decide to proceed with changing the laws we would urge all political parties to allow their members a conscience vote on the issue.”
Mr Wallace said it was vital that the Government consider the best interests of children and, if they go ahead with legalising surrogacy, to restrict it to infertile heterosexual couples and to ensure that significant safeguards are in place.
These include ensuring surrogacy only occurs within the context of a committed relationship between a man and a woman and only when there is a genetic link between the arranged parents and the child.
“While we understand the heart-felt desire of adults to have children, we should not be placing those desires above the rights of a child to have both a mother and a father. Children are not commodities and their interests should always come before the desires of adults,” Mr Wallace said.
“Clearly it is not in the best interests of children for the State to allow them to be conceived through assisted reproductive technology and then placed in an unnatural family construct that denies them a mother or a father.”
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today urged the Tasmanian Government not to go down the same path as Victoria and Queensland in allowing two men, two women and even single people to acquire a baby through surrogacy – thereby depriving the children of the complementary love and care of a mother and a father.
ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said surrogacy was fraught with emotional, biological and legal complexities for children, as well as for women who carry someone else’s baby.
“We urge Tasmanians to put forward their concerns on this issue and for the Tasmanian Government to ensure that they engage in genuine consultation rather than treating the legalisation of surrogacy as a fait accompli,” Mr Wallace said.
“If the Government does decide to proceed with changing the laws we would urge all political parties to allow their members a conscience vote on the issue.”
Mr Wallace said it was vital that the Government consider the best interests of children and, if they go ahead with legalising surrogacy, to restrict it to infertile heterosexual couples and to ensure that significant safeguards are in place.
These include ensuring surrogacy only occurs within the context of a committed relationship between a man and a woman and only when there is a genetic link between the arranged parents and the child.
“While we understand the heart-felt desire of adults to have children, we should not be placing those desires above the rights of a child to have both a mother and a father. Children are not commodities and their interests should always come before the desires of adults,” Mr Wallace said.
“Clearly it is not in the best interests of children for the State to allow them to be conceived through assisted reproductive technology and then placed in an unnatural family construct that denies them a mother or a father.”
Concern that real solutions to combat child prostitution will be swept under the carpet
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) today voiced concerns that genuine solutions to stop child prostitution in Tasmania would be ‘swept under the carpet’ following the Government’s decision not to re-appoint Paul Mason as Children’s Commissioner when his term expires this Friday.
ACL Tasmanian Director Mark Brown said that Mr Mason had made a number of worthwhile recommendations which put the welfare of vulnerable children above bureaucracy and vested interests in response to the appalling case of a 12-year-old girl being prostituted to more than 100 men.
“Among other things, Mr Mason has been one of the few people to rightly identify the need to consider criminalising the purchase of sex – as occurs in Sweden – in his report dealing with the state’s failure to protect the 12-year-old girl.
“Where does the Government’s decision to replace Mr Mason leave this and other recommendations? Does it clear the way for the Government to deliver a more muted response once public interest dies down?”
Mr Brown said that ACL was concerned by reports that Premier David Bartlett personally supported legalising brothels, which is at odds with Mr Mason’s recommendation and Mr Bartlett’s pre-election commitment to examine the Swedish approach to prostitution reform.
“It is pleasing that the Tasmanian Government has committed to a thorough review of the Sex Industry Offenses Act 2005, but we urge the Premier and his Government to look beyond the failed approach of regulated prostitution in several other States,” Mr Brown said.
“Experiences in other States clearly show that legalising brothels does not stop child prostitution – but just increases demand for women and girls.
“By contrast under the Swedish model of prostitution control - which treats prostitution as a form of abuse against women and prosecutes the purchaser of sex – men who purchased sex with a 12-year-old would not be able to walk free.”
Mr Brown said there has been a strong push from some quarters to legalise the sex industry but law-makers needed to consider the credible researched evidence about the real harm this causes on a far greater scale.
“One has to question whether the Government is falling in with a Greens’ agenda to legalise the sex industry despite the ramifications,” Mr Brown said. “Recent cases in Canberra and Sydney have highlighted that a legalised sex industry fails to protect minors from exploitation. This is not the answer and, as Mr Mason has recommended, we need to be considering more effective legislative change.”
Media Contact: Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979
ACL Tasmanian Director Mark Brown said that Mr Mason had made a number of worthwhile recommendations which put the welfare of vulnerable children above bureaucracy and vested interests in response to the appalling case of a 12-year-old girl being prostituted to more than 100 men.
“Among other things, Mr Mason has been one of the few people to rightly identify the need to consider criminalising the purchase of sex – as occurs in Sweden – in his report dealing with the state’s failure to protect the 12-year-old girl.
“Where does the Government’s decision to replace Mr Mason leave this and other recommendations? Does it clear the way for the Government to deliver a more muted response once public interest dies down?”
Mr Brown said that ACL was concerned by reports that Premier David Bartlett personally supported legalising brothels, which is at odds with Mr Mason’s recommendation and Mr Bartlett’s pre-election commitment to examine the Swedish approach to prostitution reform.
“It is pleasing that the Tasmanian Government has committed to a thorough review of the Sex Industry Offenses Act 2005, but we urge the Premier and his Government to look beyond the failed approach of regulated prostitution in several other States,” Mr Brown said.
“Experiences in other States clearly show that legalising brothels does not stop child prostitution – but just increases demand for women and girls.
“By contrast under the Swedish model of prostitution control - which treats prostitution as a form of abuse against women and prosecutes the purchaser of sex – men who purchased sex with a 12-year-old would not be able to walk free.”
Mr Brown said there has been a strong push from some quarters to legalise the sex industry but law-makers needed to consider the credible researched evidence about the real harm this causes on a far greater scale.
“One has to question whether the Government is falling in with a Greens’ agenda to legalise the sex industry despite the ramifications,” Mr Brown said. “Recent cases in Canberra and Sydney have highlighted that a legalised sex industry fails to protect minors from exploitation. This is not the answer and, as Mr Mason has recommended, we need to be considering more effective legislative change.”
Media Contact: Glynis Quinlan on 0408 875 979