Australia

[Adriana]

In today’s world the importance of human rights protection is not only still very important, its importance is growing. We read about human rights violations in many states daily. Australia was dealing with human rights issues a lot since its existence. But we can proudly say we have come a long way. We are still doing as much as we can to eliminate any kind of discrimination – it is one of the most important tasks of our government. This month our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has just prepared a report on elimination of racial discrimination and it is open for comments to all interested parties since we deeply respect the freedom of speech, thought and expression. In the last time Australia has been dealing with natural disasters. In such critical times it is even more important to assure basic needs and human rights to every individual and the state is not allowed to affect those rights and needs of individuals by any kind of state action. Therefore Commonwealth of Australia reaffirms the importance of human rights protection and also education. In the light of our history we support transfer of good practices.

The financial crisis is an issue every state and every individual is dealing with today. Beside its effect on economy there are consequences which are weakening the situation in every state and position of every individual: unemployment, growth of social inequality and as a consequence poverty is spreading in the world. Australia's budget position has dramatically slipped, as the global financial storm cuts a swathe across the world. Since we have problems with natural disasters which affected our economy and also our budget directly, the government is trying to find some effective solutions to financial crisis. As the unemployment grows, the government is thinking about cutting migrant visas. In cooperation with New Zealand we are preparing some actions to moves to guarantee all savings deposits in banks and financial institutions amid growing concern over the fallout from the global economic crisis. Again transfer of good practices is something every state could use in those hard times.