The Constitution and the protection of rightsThe Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (UK) 1901 is a document which outlines the structures and legislative powers of the Commonwealth Parliament. This document provides for the protection of rights in three ways. First, rights are safeguarded through structural protections, which are a system of checks and balances established by the founders of the Constitution to protect human and democratic rights by ensuring that absolute power is not held by a single body, thus avoiding corruption or the abuse of the Commonwealth. energy. Some of these structural protections include the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, the bicameral parliament, and the principles of representative and accountable government (s.7, 24, 28, 13) which protect our right to vote by providing a government that is “chosen directly by the people” through elections, and is therefore a government that shares the views of the majority of the population and is accountable and accountable to parliament and the public. Secondly, rights are also protected through express rights, that is, rights and freedoms rooted in the constitution and which can only be changed by referendum. The five express rights protected by the constitution include; the acquisition of property on just terms (s.51), trial by jury for indictable offenses (s.80), freedom of movement (s.92), freedom of religion (s.116) and freedom from interstate discrimination (s .117). And thirdly, implied rights offer a means of protection because, through the interpretation of the Constitution and considering many cases, the High Court of Australia recognizes other rights belonging to Australians that the founders of the constitution i..... . half of the paper... ...territory [2013] HCA 55. (2013, 1 January). Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 18:00 19 April 2014 from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/commonwealth-v-australian-capital-territory-2013-hca-55Gill, K. (2014, 1 January) . How is the United States Constitution amended? About.com US Politics. Retrieved 11:30 AM, April 18, 2014, from http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovernment/a/amendments.htmLearning. (2014, January 1). Separation of powers: Parliament, executive and judiciary. Retrieved 14:00 18 April 2014 from http://www.peo.gov.au/learning/fact-sheets/separation-of-powers.htmlTwomey, A. (2013, 12 December). ACT law guarantees neither marriage nor equality: High Court verdict. The conversation. Retrieved 5:00 PM, April 19, 2014, from http://theconversation.com/act-law-delivers-neither-marriage-nor-equality-the-high-courts-verdict-21406