#Rightsplaining: Political Spinertia or a Historic Future for Human Rights in Australia?

Abstract

These are dark times for human rights in Australia, and in the world with the un-righteous rise of right wing nationalists Trumpeting a new dawn of anti-rights and their leaders who are hostile to established International Human Rights Law institutions including the United Nations and its many various bodies and the International Criminal Court. The ascension of an Alt-Right who are not interested in truth, evidence or facts makes the job of a legal advocate increasingly challenging in a “post-truth”- “alternative fact”-dystopia. The silver lining of course is that the more extreme the rhetorical pendulum swings the more opportunities there are for all of us as advocates to stand up, speak out, and robustly reaffirm the value of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms as the building blocks of our “fair go”, lucky country, ANZAC-spirited way of life.