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WAPolitics and LawQuick questions
Unit 4: Accountability and Rights
Quick questions on Statutory and Common Law Rights: WACE Year 12 Politics and Law
2short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are statutory protection of rights?Show answer
Parliament protects many rights by passing legislation. At the Commonwealth level this includes the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Privacy Act 1988, enforced through bodies such as the Australian Human Rights Commission. States have their own equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws. Several Australian jurisdictions have gone further with statutory human rights instruments: Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland have human rights Acts that require public authorities to act compatibly with listed rights and courts to interpret legislation consistently with them where possible.
What is evaluating the security of protection?Show answer
When you evaluate, weigh breadth against security. Strengths: statutes can cover detailed and modern areas (privacy, discrimination, technology) that a constitution never could, they can be updated quickly, and the common law plus the principle of legality provide a flexible safety net that pressures Parliament to be transparent. Weaknesses: none of it is entrenched, so protection ultimately depends on the political majority of the day; protection is patchy and varies between jurisdictions; and enforcement can be costly and slow. A strong answer concludes that Australia relies on the political process and a patchwork of laws rather than a single guaranteed instrument, which is the central debate in the bill of rights question.
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