Why are we footing bill for AHRC’s colossal waste?

The Australian Human Rights Commission costs us a fortune every year to cause trouble in the name of “diversity”. Paying for it to throw a party as well is an insult, writes Miranda Devine.

It’s bad enough that we’ve been paying the Australian Human Rights Commission $25 million a year to cause trouble in the name of “diversity and inclusion”, aka identity politics.

But must we pay for it to party as well?

Take its annual Human Rights Awards, billed as “the pinnacle of human rights recognition in Australia”.

Tickets to the 2018 shindig, held at the Westin Hotel on Friday, December 14, cost $200 apiece, including a two-course meal and beverages.

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Rosalind Croucher is the current president of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Picture: AAP/Paul Braven

Of 580 people on the guest list, 112 were AHRC bureaucrats or their guests. That means AHRC representatives cost the taxpayer more than $22,000 to attend an event which honoured such leftie idols as Gosford’s most outspoken rector and wannabe politician Fr Rod Bower.

But that’s not all. Apart from corporate virtue-signallers such as the Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths, and various bloodsucking law firms which make a killing out of the rights industry, the bulk of attendees were from government-funded organisations, including Aboriginal organisations from Queensland and South Australia — add in the untold cost of travel and accommodation.

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Father Rod Bower was one of the guests at the 2018 Human Rights Awards. Picture: Peter Clark

There also were 27 members of the “Inclusive Leadership Network”, another leftist propagation vehicle. By our estimation, 80 per cent of guests were from taxpayer-funded outfits, meaning their tickets alone cost us $80,000.

That’s just a snapshot of the colossal waste of taxpayer money by a Coalition government on an organisation whose sole purpose is to act as an incubator for left-wing fancies, an enabler of left-wing activists, and a scourge to free speech.

@mirandadevine