Is it time for a national bill of rights? Crikey readers took the question in stride yesterday as they continued to discuss the implications of recent police raids on media organisations. Elsewhere, readers tackled Australia’s great failings that have led to refugee detention camps. 

On the need for a bill of rights: 

Mike Smith writes: Politicians benefit most from the lack of a bill of rights, what on earth makes you think either side would introduce it?

Robert Garnett writes: One slight but not insignificant factor is of course that the AFP, whilst they are a bunch of typical right wing plods, are mostly incompetent, which will give us a brief delay until we are consumed by ultimate totalitarianism.

David Thompson writes: No other democracy holds as tight to its secrets and the ABC raid is the latest example of how far the Coalition goes to “scare reporters into submission”.

John Attwood writes: Of greater concern is the potential for a record to be “altered” in some way, and then used as proof in a court. So, hypothetically the AFP find a file, alter it, and then charge a journalist (or a news organisation) with offences based on the altered file. One hopes that the ABC have off site backups of the original files/emails/tweets etc without reference to original locations.

On the mentality propping up detention camps

Peter Wileman writes: Inevitably this issue will be resolved and millions of dollars of compensation will be given to the poor buggers that our government are torturing. Let the millions of dollars first come from the money no doubt put aside for Howard’s state funeral that the LNP will insist on, and then from politicians’ superannuation and other rewards for “service”.

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