Page 2534 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 15 November 1989
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Senator Bronwyn Bishop recently indicated to Pam McCormack that the Bill would be signed on 20 November. Bob Woods, the Federal Member for Lowe, in a letter to a constituent, stated:
The situation, according to the Attorney-General's office, is that there is no convention on the rights of the child at this time. There are discussions and drafts but there is no final convention. The position of both the Government and, therefore, the Opposition has to be that until we see the final document we will not be able to take a firm position on it.
I have not seen, perhaps, the final document, but I do take a very firm position on it, as do a rapidly increasing number of vitally concerned parents in Canberra and Australia.
Let us look at the convention on the rights of the child text, as adopted by the working group on the question of a convention on the rights of the child at the second reading in December 1988. It is not understood when this convention is going to be signed by the Attorney-General's office but it has been worked on by a committee for over 10 years, since 1979, and many people in Government and the vast majority of the population do not know what it contains. Many people do not know about it at all.
Part 1, article 1, mentions that "a child means every human being below the age of 18". That is whom we are talking about, or in Canberra all children below the age of 18. I turn to article 2, section 1, and what I will do here is read certain words in order to highlight points. So, it is not word after word, but it is words in order to highlight a point. Subsection 1 says that the states parties shall ensure the rights to each child irrespective of the child's parent's opinion.
Ms Follett: On a point of order, Mr Speaker; Mr Stevenson purports to be quoting from that article. I would put it to you that the best proposition might be to table the draft convention so that at least we are not subjected to this extremely misguided, misleading and erroneous quoting. The meaning of it, Mr Speaker, is quite different from what Mr Stevenson is putting forth.
MR STEVENSON: I can handle that, Mr Speaker. I will now read article 2. There is another point. I have given everybody a copy of the convention so that they can follow this through. I highlight the points because that is not taking it out of context. That is basically in context amongst other matters. Article 2 reads:
The States Parties to the present Convention shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in this Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind irrespective of
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