Letter to The Editor

To The Australian
Sev Ozdowski provides several good suggestions for reform of the Australian Human Rights Commission ('How to restore public confidence in the human rights commission', 20/1), but he fails to justify its existence. Simply asserting that 'Australians whose rights are being breached or who are unlawfully discriminated against deserve protection' is not an argument. Our traditional legal system can provide adequate protection and is less liable to manipulation by 'the political Left' and 'progressives championing political correctness and social justice'.

Brigitte Dwyer is thus right ('It may not be ideal, but we are saving lives at sea', 20/1) to warn against the dangers of 'the idealism embodied in the human rights movement'. We do not want to see in Australia Italy's problem of 'a facility built for15 people hosting up to 1500 immigrants' or the violence against women by migrants experienced in Germany. To defend our patch successfully, we are going to have to be very tough-minded indeed. It is about more than just diminishing deaths by drowning.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic