Dr Ben Saunders - Human Rights and Constitutional Law

Dr Ben Saunders is a senior lecturer in constitutional law at Deakin University who recently wrote a piece for the ABC on the human rights implications of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. This exclusive interview was the first time he appeared on video as an academic. --------------------------------------- DISCERNABLE Our Private Community: discernable.locals.com The Crew Mailing List: https://discernable.io/crew The Video Archive: https://www.youtube.com/discernable The Podcast: http://discernable.io/listen Our Town Hall on Ethics with Acting Senior Sergeant Krystal Mitchell: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/learnethics ABC article by Dr Ben Saunders: https://www.abc.net.au/religion/human-rights-and-mandatory-covid-19-vaccinations/13577278 --------------------------------------- 2:43 How Human Rights fit within the Australian legal system 3:48 The Australian legal system is different to the US legal system 5:35 The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities is toothless 8:08 Where do we get our human rights from? 8:38 Strong human rights relies on an effective political system 10:48 The medicalisation of politics and the politicisation of medical science 12:35 The rise of technocracy and the inability to measure cost/benefit ratios 15:20 We need more experts speaking about ethics! 16:48 Have we lost the culture of human rights? 21:03 Are we ignoring the Australian Constitution? 22:22 What the Constitution says about medical treatments 26:09 The Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021 29:37 How is this different to a dictatorship? 33:36 There is now no area of life exempt from political and government control 35:37 What could be next for the Government to control 37:05 Should Human Rights protections be understood from a Natural Rights perspective or Positive Rights? 40:25 Is there an optimal system – The US system vs the Australian System? 42:45 Finding pleasure in law 44:01 The social environment that formed the Australian Constitution 45:10 Competitive Federalism lacking in Australia 46:20 The Australian Constitution’s importance compared to the US Constitution 47:57 The Victorian Constitution is not a constitution 49:18 Australian states can be constituted without a constitution 50:18 How do we determine derogable and non-derogable rights? 53:22 The European Union 54:12 Has the historical momentum of human rights been positive? 56:47 Is law is a lagging indicator of culture or does it create culture? 1:00:11 What is the future of human rights?