InBrief

Chief Justice Robert French has delivered a speech on "The Common Law and the Protection of Human Rights" at a breakfast function of the Anglo-Australasian Lawyers Society today, 4 September 2009. In his speech, the chief justice took exception to one element in the ongoing debate over a charter of rights, specifically the references to a "democratic deficit" when "unelected judges" weigh up "important but competing societal values". Chief Justice French argued that:

The common law interpretive principle protective of rights and freedoms against statutory incursion retains its vitality ... It has a significant role to play in the protection of rights and freedoms in contemporary society, while operating in a way that is entirely consistent with the principle of parliamentary supremacy.�

4 September 2009