A Bill of Rights is an article included in a nation's Constitution that outlines the human rights of citizens. In 1890 Australia's founding fathers decided not to include a Bill of Rights, as they believed our laws and legislators would protect our basic human rights. Most of the principles of the Australian Constitution are derived from the British and US constitutions. The British Constitution is based on the principle of a sovereign elected parliament. Our federal Commonwealth was to be formed under the Crown and the executive arm was to sit in parliament. The biggest difference in the Australian Constitution was that there would be no Human Rights Bill. During the constitutional conventions preceding federation, Richard O'Connor supported the idea of ​​a Bill of Rights, but the proposal failed, garnering 19 "no" votes and 23 "yes" votes. Since federation, there have been numerous attempts to introduce some form of Human Rights Bill. In both 1929 and 1959, official inquiries into the Constitution rejected the concept, and two referendums, in 1942 and 1988, proposing the introduction of a Bill of Rights, were both rejected. This plays into the idea that, as a nation, we have a general “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” attitude when it comes to politics. There have also been two major attempts by the federal parliament to introduce a Bill of Rights in the form of a non-constitutional statute. In 1973, Attorney General Lionel Murphy introduced his proposal for a new statute. However, his bill proved highly controversial, expiring in the Senate. Then, in 1983, Attorney General Gareth Evans introduced a similar bill, but it also died in the Senate. change society. One might even say that a Bill of Rights would have no real effect on what happens in our society. For example, "Joseph Stalin's 1936 constitution was eloquent on rights, but killed 20 million Soviet citizens." Australia went 113 years without a Bill of Rights, made possible by the quality of the laws and jurisprudence developed over the last century. It is simply not necessary for human rights to be expressly written into our Constitution, as our legislators are there to ensure that these fundamental rights are protected through laws passed by parliament. So it really depends on the level of trust we have in our elected representatives. Furthermore, the level of vulnerability in which a Bill of Rights leaves us can be potentially very dangerous, as it depends on the intended interpretation..