Sydney Cardinal George Pell has thanked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for intervening to change Labor Party policy on the introduction of a Charter of Rights. The Australian reports that on February 14, the Cardinal Pell and his Anglican counterpart, Archbishop Peter Jensen, wrote to the Prime Minister to reiterate their concern over a Charter of Rights.
"You will recall our representations at the time of the ALP national conference last year on the potential dangers of a Charter of Rights," they wrote, in a letter obtained under Freedom of Information laws.
"You were good enough to have the draft platform amended."
Cardinal Pell has been an outspoken critic of calls for a Charter of Rights, and in April gave a speech to the Brisbane Institute in which he warned it could have serious and unintended consequences.
But Labor's 2004 policy platform included the introduction of a "legislative Charter of Citizenship and Aspirations" coupled with "constitutional reform to achieve a comprehensive recognition of the rights enjoyed by all Australians."
At the conference last year, however, the platform was amended as a result of a motion by then Opposition justice spokesman Joe Ludwig and George Williams from the University of NSW.
The 2007 policy platform, which Labor took to the election, committed only to "a public inquiry about how best to recognise and protect the human rights and freedoms enjoyed by all Australians."
A spokesman for Mr Rudd denied he had been lobbied by Cardinal Pell and Dr Jensen to intervene on the issue, saying Labor's policy platform was a matter for the party.
Mr Ludwig, now Minister for Human Services, and Professor Williams also denied being lobbied by church leaders on the issue.
Cardinal Pell and Dr Jensen took aim at Professor Williams in their letter, expressing concern that "the chief advocate of a charter" had been invited to the 2020 Summit, which put a Charter of Rights back on the agenda.
"Churches can make representations to elected MPs but there is no way to oppose or reverse social experiments enacted by the non-elected judges," they wrote. "This continues to be an area of concern."
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