Today's Age editorial.
Whack.
The attack on Triggs is an Abbott stitch-up Date February 26, 2015 - 12:15AM
Australia is witnessing a political stitch-up of extraordinary proportions. Not by Professor Gillian Triggs and the Human Rights Commission, as the Prime Minister might wail and cry. No, it is clear what is going on.
The Abbott government is cynically moving to de-legitimise certain institutions that perform vital roles in the democratic life of this nation.
Its attack on the president of the Human Rights Commission is designed to enfeeble the statutory institution that is vested with the important task of observing and critiquing how Australian governments and institutions abide by the international laws of human rights, laws that this nation proudly helped to formulate and which we demand other countries uphold.
It has been a brutal exhibition of Machiavellian manoeuvrings – by the Prime Minister from the floor of Parliament, by the sleazy antics of the Attorney-General in trying to force Professor Triggs' resignation, and through the brazenly partisan conduct of Coalition senators on the legal and constitutional affairs committee. But this government's morally bankrupt and desperately misguided effort to manipulate public opinion against the commission will prove to be an own-goal.The unpopular Abbott government is apparently so threatened by the findings of a report into children in immigration detention – a report that delivers strong criticism of both the Coalition and its Labor predecessors – that it seeks to render impotent an independent, vocal monitor. It seeks to sow doubt about the commission's credibility, so it strikes at the top.
The government says it has lost confidence in Professor Triggs. It claims she demonstrated political bias by initiating an inquiry into children in detention only after the Coalition came to power in late 2013. It argues the commission should have been concerned about children being locked up under the Rudd and Gillard governments, when numbers in detention soared. Attorney-General George Brandis embellishes this by saying Professor Triggs committed a "catastrophic error of judgment". He says there was "a near-universal view" within the Coalition by Christmas that her position had become untenable, mainly because of what he called her "inconsistent and evasive" responses before the Senate committee in November.
The government's complaints are concocted nonsense. In any other context, such slippages would be excused once clarified. This government, though, whips them into a conspiracy of mock-horror proportions then tries to induce her to quit. All the while, the commission's report is shoved aside. Indeed, the chairman of the Senate committee, Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald, contemptuously declared he has not, and will not, read the report – an appalling abrogation of his responsibilities.
Rarely has a federal government engaged in such a vicious, politicised campaign to demolish the integrity and professionalism of a statutory officer. The Prime Minister's enthusiastic participation in this tawdry episode greatly diminishes the standing of his office.Senator Brandis says he wants the Human Rights Commission to focus on "projects that actually mean something to the mainstream of Australian people [and] will make a material difference to their lives". His proposal highlights how fundamentally out of touch this government is with issues of human rights, because it is not mainstream Australians who are at risk. It is those at the margins who cannot speak for themselves, the young and disadvantaged, minorities and non-Australians (such as asylum seekers), who most need their human rights secured.
The internationally respected Human Rights Commission provides a level of protection for these people. Its vital work must be allowed to proceed unimpeded by interference or intimidation from a cynical and desperate government.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/the-attack-on-triggs-is-an-abbott-stitchup-20150225-13ogxw.html
