Dr. Tom Boland:

I thank Senator Black, whose proposition is very interesting. The sorts of rights we have been at the forefront in guaranteeing historically, such as rights to privacy, private property and free speech, are all about what individuals would do by themselves. The Senator might be imagining – I am anyway – rights to housing, welfare support or healthcare. Those rights are ones you have to claim from the collective. In a way, they are almost beyond rights. Nobody should be able to stop you from having welfare if you genuinely have an entitlement to it. It would be another very positive step forward. It is certainly the case that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has a commitment to a right to work. This is a very interesting kind of right because we must ask who will provide it and who it will be given to. Legally, rights can be enshrined. I keep going back to the spirit of the system, however. If you have the right to work and the work involves being in a chain gang or breaking rocks, that is no good. Therefore, we need to make sure the spirit behind the law is also right. A compassionate, caring welfare state or society backs up the rights. I thank the Senator. She got me thinking.