HUMAN rights is a term now rich with political connotations; it has polarised the community, arguably contributing to a degree of national insecurity; embarrassment even. High-profile lawyer and Jesuit priest Father Frank Brennan and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission President John von Doussa have attempted to find a middle path through such divisiveness and present a rational way forward. They claim their propositions would enable Australia to redeem its international reputation and reinvent itself as a nation that truly respects the individual.

Frank Brennan wears the label “meddling priest” as something of a badge of honour. His most recent book, Tampering with Asylum (launched in Adelaide by dedicated supporter of asylum seekers, Lowitja O’Donoghue), will reaffirm his label among those in government who would prefer less scrutiny of their actions. The book is a probing, articulate assessment of what he describes as Australia’s massive overreaction to the fourth wave – but surely not the last wave - of boat people to these shores. Put simply, Brennan believes Australians have allowed themselves to be easily spooked, a view reinforced by John von Doussa.

In 200 pages, Brennan considers the 1951 Convention on Refugees and how it relates to today. He deconstructs the history of Australia’s detention system, crusading against former Labor governments as well as the incumbent. He exposes the political manoeuvring around the Tampa crisis and border control. He compares Australia’s policies with those of Europe and the United States in the treatment of refugees, arguing Australia can do much better. He examines the relationship between Parliament and the courts, arguing the absence of a Bill of Rights leaves the government much more free to interfere with the human rights of asylum seekers, sans judicial supervision. In closing he offers a raft of solutions that he says would enable Australia to be a warm-hearted, decent international citizen once again.

Brennan contends there is no coherent rationale for ongoing detention of asylum seekers, pointing out that 90 per cent of those from Iraq and Iran have been found to be legitimate refugees and processing their claims would be easier without the impediments of detention. The numbers are tiny compared to the global numbers of displaced, asylum seeker movements elsewhere, even after including the 60,000 overstayers who come to Australia each year by plane, not boat.

While acknowledging the government must be able to hold people just long enough for health and security checks, he dismisses the idea of detention as a deterrent on the basis that no Australian deterrent will ever match the horror of Saddam Hussein or the Taliban from which these people fled. In fact, the book is littered with references to government actions he supports, and acknowledgment of policies he believes to be legitimate. Even so, there’s no concealing the depth of disappointment, anger and resentfulness he harbours against the government’s overall handling of this issue. One couldn’t say Brennan is impartial but he is passionate in his convictions and cogent in his arguments for reform.

At the same time he’s a realist, and says that if detention is to remain a cornerstone of Australian border protection and front door immigration entry, there is a need for alternative arrangements to render the present detention policy more humane and effective. In his words, it is time to stop tampering with asylum and grant protection decently to those who deserve that protection.

This is far from light reading; more a comprehensive historical assessment and critical analysis, culminating in his blueprint for a better, fairer system. It won’t be read nearly enough by the bulk of Australians who deserve to be better informed on this issue. However, this is the sort of book destined to be an oft-quoted and valuable reference; it should stand as a yardstick against which future policies will be judged by rational-thinking Australians.

Like Brennan, John von Doussa believes that changing hearts and minds at a grassroots level is the key to developing a more humane and caring society. The first step is to stop people being afraid; von Doussa genuinely believes it is the fear of difference that leads to discrimination

Sadly, few at the grassroots level were present at the National Wine Centre to hear the former judge deliver the annual Mitchell Oration (named after Dame Roma Mitchell for her work to counter discrimination)). His message was superb in its clarity and simplicity and deserved a far wider audience. Notably, mainstream journalists were absent, despite genuinely newsworthy items being raised, not the least of which was a call for a Bill of Rights.

Von Doussa contends that at the end of the 20th century the optimistic assessment of Australia as a harmonious multicultural society seemed correct, despite lingering concerns about the treatment of indigenous people and emerging ones about its handling of asylum seekers.

But he has seen that the promising movement towards reconciliation, that emerged from the bridge walks around Australia and the stolen generations inquiry, has since foundered. Dialogue on human rights seems to have stalled. The enjoyment of rights by indigenous people and by minorities suffered serious blows, due squarely to a change in political discourse. That change has myriad causes but notable amongst them was the Tampa incident where the lives of 433 people seeking refuge became a political tool for the shaping of public opinion.

The detention of asylum seekers who arrive by boat, the Tampa incident and the Pacific solution that followed are recognised by Australian human rights organisations and lawyers as gross breaches of Australia’s international obligations. They have attracted international condemnation. Yet the government injected into public discourse the notion that these people were “illegals”, and the vanguards of an invasion of Australia’s privileged lifestyle.

Then came September 11 2001 and last year’s Bali bombings. These events brought home to Australians that they are not immune from terrorist threats. Fear and ignorance made ethnic minorities in Australia the targets of racist and religious violence and discrimination. Von Doussa says the government’s reaction has been to curtail rights, through tools such as anti-terrorism legislation, and efforts to remove HREOC’s power to intervene in court cases about human rights.

He argues that the Federal Government is silencing its opponents and playing on fears to perpetuate myths, such as the hoary old chestnut that support for minorities comes at the expense of ordinary Australians. The typical response is encased in self interest, not compassion and reason.

So how to move forward? Von Doussa believes that more genuine dialogue is needed, not monologues from iconic human rights figures. He says that changing community attitudes is a slow process, and he suspects that his efforts will have little or no effect unless the Government sees support in the electorate grow for such issues.

Von Doussa also regards education as vital, and is heartened by programs in high schools which show young people have an increasingly sophisticated understanding of what it means to enshrine and protect human rights. But it’s not just the young that need educating; he says the key to effective learning is simple information which explains the justice of allowing everybody to participate in community life on an equal footing. He feels that widespread community understanding is more likely if the notion of human rights is set out in elementary terms.

And von Doussa supports a Bill of Rights, though many argue that legal rights beyond those already recognised by the common-law and statute are not needed. He says Australia is one of a diminishing number of common-law countries without such a Bill.

In the good times he agrees that it’s not needed but when the going gets tough – like now – people will be left outside the mainstream legal system, such as asylum seekers, without enforceable legal rights. However, he doesn’t think there’s any prospect of getting a Bill of Rights up, while there remains a widespread fear of terrorism.

He believes the challenge for Australia is to cast off the shackles of fear and embrace justice for every human being, regardless of class, race or visa status. I suspect his closing comment would receive heartfelt support from Father Frank Brennan, “As Australians, let us not be damned by our silence. Or shamed by our ignorance.”