National Human Rights Consultation Submission 

AGWW-7R4HW7 

Name: Adam O'Dell 

Submission Text: 

Hello,
 

 
I would like to express my concerns about what I see as some infringements
 
of human rights in Australia.
 

 
To begin, I believe that the youth of this country are discriminated
 
against in many areas, especially within social security, education and law
 
enforcement. In Australia, youth are considered adults when they reach the
 
age of 18, at this age they can vote, they can drink, they can smoke, they
 
can fight in wars etc, but still when it comes to social security it is
 
almost impossible for an under twenty-five year old student who doesn't
 
even live at home to be classed as independant. The great majority of
 
students in this country are under twenty-five years of age, yet none of
 
these people can get AUSTUDY.
 

 
In addition to this I feel that the cultural and social rights of public
 
school students is in jeapardy. Public school is considered by many as a
 
secular alternative to religious private schools. Whilst religion should be
 
a cultural right of every individual, in a secular country I think that it
 
is wrong that Christianity is a favoured religion among public schools;
 
many public schools have a spiritual guide, which is acceptable in itself,
 
but to call this guide a 'Christian care worker' and deny access to such a
 
position to anyone who is not Christian is wrong in my opinion, even if
 
they're not funded by the state. If there is to even be spiritual
 
education/guidance in public schools then it should not be Christian
 
orientated, it should be inclusive of all the major religions and spiritual
 
ideologies.
 

 
Trying to remain within the 20,000 character limit I would also like to
 
express my concern over some other worries I have over human rights in
 
Australia. I think that people in same-sex relationships are discriminated
 
against by the law, as well as same-sex attracted would-be private school
 
teachers (even after the eventual ammendments to the EO act). After the
 
coming ammendments it is still allowable for Private schools to not hire
 
teachers on the basis of their sexuality. In addition, the law
 
discriminates against same-sex relationships in not allowing them the same
 
rights as opposite-sex relationships, such as marriage. Also I think that
 
with the new Centrelink changes in regards to same-sex relationships,
 
people are having their privacy ignored. In a place where homophobia still
 
remains rampant, the government is requiring anyone in a same-sex
 
relationship getting social security to tell Centrelink, else they'll be
 
breaking the law.
 

 
Other areas where I think that peoples' human rights are being infringed
 
are health (people with mental illnesses are not properly taken care of by
 
the government), illegal immigration (holding children in detention camps
 
etc), homelessness (in a rich country like this there is no excuse to have
 
so many homeless people), I am also wary of the proposed plans to blacklist
 
websites from the public, to me that sounds very backwards.
 

 
Thank you, and I wish you the best of luck with the community
 
roundtables 

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