This publication provides a brief account of human rights and their operation in Australia. It is a collection of writings about human rights with specific reference to Australia. I have written the major part of it and been responsible for editing and compiling it, with considerable assistance from Suri Ratnapala. Specific sections of the publication contain extracts from the writings of Professor Clarence B Carson, Professor Lauchlan Chipman, Viv Forbes, P P McGuiness, Dr Gabriel Moens, Phil Scanlan and Ross Warneke. The section on Freedom of Speech was jointly written by Paul Brassil and myself.
Lalin Fernando, David Fine, Malcolm Gracie, John Gully, John Hall, Brendon Lynch, Jennie Niccol, Iris Nyman, Jane Rayner, David Smallbone, Peter Shrubb and John Weir provided assistance in various ways in the preparation of the manuscript. Special mention must be made of Suri Ratnapala, Malcolm Gracie and Brendon Lynch. My research assistant, Suri Ratnapala, was of inestimable help to me in many ways in this project. He did so much that his role was more that of colleague than that of assistant. Without him this enterprise would have faltered often. He contributed more than any routine acknowledgement can describe. His diligence and insights transformed the scope and depth of the work. He worked long hours on various parts of the manuscript and I owe much to him for the efficient and willing manner in which he performed the many and exacting demands made on him. Malcolm Gracie made some very valuable comments and performed many tedious tasks very efficiently and cheerfully. Brendon Lynch did the proofreading carefully and responsibly.
Miriam Armstrong is responsible for very efficiently and expeditiously converting an untidy manuscript into a neat and elegant typescript.
A Macquarie University research grant provided finance for payment of part of the expenses for typing and research assistance.
The Australian Financial Review, The Age, Common Sense, The Freeman and Quadrant have kindly granted permission for the reproduction of extracts from their publications. The sections of the manuscript which constitute extracts from previous publications are as follows:
Chapter 6.4 titled The New Censorship is reproduced from an article by Professor Lauchlan Chipman in Quadrant May 1984 p 16.
Chapter 8.1 to 8.12 is reproduced from Clarence B Carson, "The Property Basis of Rights" in The Freeman, September 1980.
Chapter 8.13 titled "Property Ownership in Australia" is an abridgement of Who Owns Australia? by Viv Forbes published in Common Sense Issue No 38, March 1985. The unabridged version is available from PO Box 93, Indooroopilly, Queensland 4068.
Chapter 9.7 titled "The Moens Affair" is an edited extract from an article by Ross Warneke in "The Age" 13 November 1984.
Chapter 9.8 titled "The New Meritocracy: Recent Affirmative Action Developments in Universities" is an edited extract from an article of a similar name by Dr Gabriel Moens and Dr Phillip R de Lacey in Quadrant May 1985.
Chapter 11 titled "Risk Avoidance" was written by Phil Scanlan.
Chapter 14.2 is an extract from a talk on "Power from the People" given by Professor Lauchlan Chipman to the Australian Constitution and Common Law Defence Association on 4 November 1984 at The Civic Centre, Chatswood.
Chapter 14.3 titled "Rights or Oppression? " is an extract from The Editorial (PP McGuiness) The Australian Financial Review, 25 October, 1984.
— LJM Cooray, School of Law, Macquarie University North Ryde, 2113 ( 31 August, 1985)