Freedom in the World 1999 - Australia

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 1.0
Civil Liberties: 1
Political Rights: 1

Overview

In June 1999, Australian Prime Minister John Howard won parliamentary approval of major tax changes that had been the centerpiece of his conservative coalition government's 1998 election campaign.

The British claimed Australia in 1770. In January 1901, six states gained independence as the Commonwealth of Australia, adopting the Northern Territory and the capital territory of Canberra as territorial units in 1911. The Queen of England is the head of state in this parliamentary democracy. The directly elected bicameral parliament consists of a 76-member senate and a 148-member house of representatives. Executive power is vested in a cabinet headed by a prime minister.

Since World War II, political power has alternated between the center-left Labor Party and the center-right coalition of the Liberal Party and the smaller, rural-based National Party. Beginning in 1983, Labor, under Bob Hawke and later Paul Keating, began cutting tariffs, deregulating financial markets, and privatizing transport, telecommunications, and utilities. By the 1996 elections, polls showed many Australians concerned with high unemployment and other costs of restructuring. The Liberal-National coalition won power with 94 seats against 49 for Labor; minor parties took 5 seats.

During his first term, Premier John Howard of the Liberal Party faced political and social issues that sharpened cleavages between rural and urban interests. In April 1998, the government and farmers' groups backed a major stevedoring company's dismissal of some 1,400 dock workers in one of Australia's largest and most confrontational labor disputes in decades. A court ordered the workers reinstated. In July, parliament approved controversial legislation restricting Aboriginal claims to pastoral lands, satisfying demands of farmers and mining companies.

Wary that Asia's economic crisis could slow the Australian economy, Howard called an early election for October 3, 1998. The Liberal-National coalition campaigned on its economic management and a promise to introduce a 10 percent goods and services tax (GST) that would be somewhat offset by personal income tax cuts. Labor Party leader Kim Beazley criticized the proposed GST for covering food and promised a jobs creation program. The Liberal-National coalition won 80 seats (64 and 16, respectively); Labor, 66; independents, 2. Economically marginalized farmers and rural townspeople signaled their disillusionment with traditional parties by handing 8.39 percent of the vote to the far-right One Nation party, which campaigned against Aboriginal land rights and Asian immigration, and in favor of economic protectionism. However, One Nation won only a single senate seat.

On June 28, 1999, the senate approved an amended tax package that included a 10 percent GST beginning in July 2000, with an exemption for basic food items, and income tax cuts. In a November 6 referendum, some 55 percent of participants rejected a plan to replace the Queen of England as head of state with a president elected by a two-thirds majority of parliament. Polls showed that a majority of Australians favored transforming the country into a republic, but that many republicans voted "no" in the referendum because they preferred having a directly-elected president.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Australians can change their government democratically. Fundamental freedoms are respected in practice. The judiciary is independent, although in the mid-1990s, the official Law Reform Commission reported that women face discrimination in the legal system.

Australia's main human rights issue is the treatment of its indigenous population of approximately 353,000 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Aborigines face systemic discrimination and mistreatment by police; are incarcerated at higher rates than whites, often because they cannot afford a fine or are denied bail for minor offenses; and die in custody at far higher rates than whites. A 1997 Amnesty International report, examining trends in custodial deaths since a Royal Commission initiated special remedies in 1992, found that ill-treatment, a systemic lack of adequate health care, and inadequate investigations into deaths still characterized the penal system. Gaps in health indicators between the indigenous and white populations are among the highest for developed countries. Figures for 1998 showed that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have a life expectancy of around 20 years less than the rest of the population. Aborigines also face societal discrimination and inferior educational opportunities. The government is responsive to these concerns and has undertaken numerous initiatives in health care and other areas.

In 1992, the high court handed down a landmark ruling formally recognizing that from a legal standpoint, Aborigines inhabited Australia prior to the British arrival. Native title could thus still be valid where Aboriginal groups maintained a connection to the land. The 1993 Native Title Act required the government to compensate groups with valid claims to state land, but left unclear the status of pastoral land (state land leased to farmers and miners), which represents some 42 percent of Australian territory. In 1996, the high court ruled that native title can coexist with pastoral leases, though pastoral rights would take precedence over native title claims.

The 1998 amendments to the Native Title Act placed restrictions on Aboriginal claims to pastoral land. In March 1999, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination called Australia's land practices "racially discriminatory" and urged the government to review four provisions of the amended Native Title Act "that discriminate against indigenous title-holders." The government rejected the allegations, noting that under the amended law, 79 percent of the country's land is still subject to claims by indigenous title-holders.

The official Human Rights Commission continued to criticize the government's practice of detaining asylum seekers pending resolution of their claims, which can take up to five years. Domestic violence is reportedly relatively common. In May, a court handed down the first prison sentence to an Australian convicted in Australia of sexual abuse of children abroad.

Australian trade unions are independent and active, although recent legislation has weakened labor rights and contributed to a decline in union rolls. The 1994 Industrial Relations Reform Act encouraged the use of workplace contracts linked to productivity rather than industry-wide collective bargaining. The 1997 Workplace Relations Act restricted the right to strike to the periods when the contracts are being negotiated, abolished closed shops, and limited redress for unfair dismissal. In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) ruled that the Workplace Relations Act breaches ILO conventions because it does not promote collective bargaining.