Rights, Responsibilities and Justice
Core concepts
Understand the sources of rights in Australia: common law rights, statute (anti-discrimination and human rights legislation), and international instruments (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ICCPR), which are not directly enforceable unless incorporated. Know that Australia has no national bill of rights; some jurisdictions have statutory charters that require interpretation consistent with rights and allow declarations of incompatibility rather than invalidation.
Distinguish legal rights from moral rights, and civil and political rights from economic, social and cultural rights. Understand responsibilities correlative to rights: obeying the law, jury service, paying tax, voting. Examine justice: procedural fairness (natural justice), equality before the law, access to justice, and the tension between individual rights and community safety.
Traps
Do not claim the Constitution contains a comprehensive bill of rights; express and implied rights exist but are limited (for example, the implied freedom of political communication). Do not say international treaties automatically create enforceable domestic rights. Avoid treating all rights as absolute - most are subject to reasonable limits.
Worked example
A law restricts protest near a hospital. A charter-based analysis asks whether the limit is lawful, necessary and proportionate. A common-law analysis asks whether the law is valid and whether procedural fairness was observed. Rule of thumb: identify the right's source, then the limit's justification, then the remedy.
Balancing
Understand how courts weigh rights against public interest, and the role of scrutiny committees in reviewing legislation for rights compatibility.