The decision to write The Politics of Human Rights in Australia was made because of the absence of any comprehensive study that examines the political nature of Australia's protection of human rights. The fact that the articulation and protection of human rights are legal processes – concerning the drafting, interpretation and enforcement of international as well as domestic laws – has led human rights studies to be somewhat captured by legal academics and practitioners who have an important function to fulfil but whose brief, naturally enough, concentrates on legal rather than political analyses. Our purpose is to show and discuss the way in which the articulation and protection of human rights are not only legal processes but also intensely political ones.

These processes are political because the institutions that debate, prioritise, articulate, protect and, at times, ignore human rights are engaged in determining how power is exercised in Australian society. When the High Court invalidates a ban on prisoners voting, it is not only fulfilling a legal function (in interpreting and applying the law) but it is also generating a political effect, constraining the operation of parliament (which can no longer ban all prisoners from voting). When the media criticise the government for undue secrecy in its anti-terrorism activities, that criticism contributes to a political debate about the unchecked power of government.