<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Hi all,</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As you may or may not be aware, the National Human Rights Consultation Committee is currently taking submissions as a means of gathering community input regarding Human Rights in Australia in a report it will deliver to the Australian Government. Online submissions are open until 15 June 2009.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Further information can be found here: <a href="http://www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au/">http://www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au/</a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Just briefly, the key consultation questions and scope of the consultation are:</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div>
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<li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Alte DIN 1451 Mittelschrift gepraegt"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Which human rights and responsibilities should be protected and promoted?</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Alte DIN 1451 Mittelschrift gepraegt"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Are human rights sufficiently protected and promoted?</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Alte DIN 1451 Mittelschrift gepraegt"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">How could Australia better protect and promote human rights?</span></li>
</ul><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">What does this have to with the Pirate Party? I’d be interested in working with a few other people in drafting a submission on behalf of the party with respect to copyright, namely issues to do with ever encroaching ‘intellectual property’ regime and freedom of expression and access i.e. those rights afforded under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also the conflict presented in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely the right to some sort of protection to be provided for the material and moral rights with an author’s creation, contrasted with the right of us all to learn, experience, cite, build upon, remix and make collages of knowledge and culture - generally to participate in culture, to disseminate it, to partake in intellectual exchange, without impediment.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Of course, this raises questions of whether or not the party may choose to support an Australian Bill of Rights position, and there has already been some debate on these forums regarding that. However, the terms of reference is explicit in stating “[t]he options identified should preserve the sovereignty of the Parliament and not include a constitutionally entrenched bill of rights.” So our solutions to resolving, protecting and promoting rights, for the sake of this submission anyway, should not rest solely on the installment of a bill of rights.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This is also something that we might involve the PPI in, even though the submission will be very much focused on the Australian situation, the rights we are advocating are universal.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">All that said, this is only a brief proposal, and there is probably a lot more that could be included in such a submission, however we only have until 15 June - so if you think you’d like to work on something with respect to it, please get in touch with me at <a href="mailto:roderick@ppau.info"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099">roderick at ppau dot info</span> </a>and we can as a small group begin to research, plan and write this submission, and probably score a bit of publicity with it too.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Looking forward to everyone’s input, ideas and criticisms.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Rod</span></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Alte DIN 1451 Mittelschrift gepraegt; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></p></body></html>