Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has stated defiantly that she will not be resigning from her position despite mounting attacks from members of the federal cabinet.
Attacks from the government began earlier this year when the Human Rights Commission released its report into children in detention. Members of the cabinet – including the prime minister – accused Triggs of betraying her political bias by releasing the report while the Liberal Party were in government, rather than releasing it under the former Gillard-Rudd government.
The personal attacks on Triggs have intensified. Last week Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Attorney General George Brandis issued a joint statement condemning her and questioning her capacity to hold her position as president of the commission.
In the statement, the two cabinet ministers referred to a comment Triggs made about the government’s asylum seeker policy in which she mentioned Australia’s relationship with Indonesia and the death penalty.
“Boats have got to stop. But have we thought about what the consequences are of pushing people back to our neighbour Indonesia? Is it any wonder that Indonesia will not engage with us on otherissues that we care about, like the death penalty?” Triggs said at the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia.
Dutton and Brandis described the comment as an “outrageous slur”.
“I think Professor Triggs trying to make some nexus between these two issues, it is a complete outrage and she should retract her statements today,” Dutton said.
“Professor Triggs holds a very high office in this country and the Australian public believe, I think, that people in these positions should act in a responsible way. I welcome the fact that Professor Triggs this morning has done a partial backflip, but she needs to confront the cameras to retract this outrageous slur.”
Dutton’s joint statement with Brandis called the comment “foolish”.
“Professor Triggs chose to make her remarks with no specific knowledge of the many steps the Australian government took to save the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, and with no professional experience in diplomacy and no specialist knowledge of the Australia-Indonesia relationship,” the statement said.
“As a lawyer, she knows better than to assert conclusions in the absence of evidence. Her comments were not in defence of human rights, but a gratuitous intervention in a difficult political issue.”
This morning, Triggs responded on ABC Radio. Her response? She’s not going anywhere.
Triggs said that resigning is “the very reverse” of what she ought to do.
“Were I to succumb to these highly personal responses to the work of the commission, that would undermine the independence of the commission,” she said.
“Were I to receive warm and congratulatory words from the government on a constant basis I think that taxpayers would be justified in asking for my resignation because I wouldn’t be doing my job.”
Triggs told the ABC that she is “reasonably tough” and able to cope with the constant attacks, but is worried about the impacts of these attacks on the commission and the important work it does.
“It’s damaging in the sense that it’s not about me, it’s about the work we’re doing,” she said.
Triggs also said the reaction to her comment about the death penalty was inappropriate and misinformed.
“What happened was (The Australian newspaper) chose a headline that was pure fabrication and it’s extremely disappointing that ministers should leap upon a headline,” she said.
The cabinet’s continued attacks on Triggs have attracted widespread concern among the Australian public over the last few months, and many voices have spoken up in support of her. Even the United Nations has stepped in; with UN Special Rapporteur on the treatment of human rights defenders writing to the Australian government earlier this year demanding the verbal attacks cease immediately.
As Women’s Agenda reported on Wednesday, Jane Caro has also sent out a call for Australians to support Triggs by nominating her for Australian of the Year. We can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.