Amid the babble of media speculation and deafening silence of suppression orders surrounding the death of a prisoner at Barwon Prison this week, you may have missed the more significant news (in a lasting sense, at least) that the Commonwealth government have decided against a Federal Bill of Rights.

While there’s a promise to review it again in a few years, the current generation of Liberals are also on record as being opposed to a statutory Bill of Rights. The concept is now unlikely to get a serious re-visit until Australia becomes a republic.

I’ve been looking for a podcast of the speech Rob McClelland delivered at the National Press Club yesterday but can’t find one. Here’s the transcript.