The petition is based on a Tasmania Law Reform Institute paper produced a decade ago, which recommended the government develop a Human Rights Act.

It calls on the parties to take a commitment to develop the act to the next election. 

The government has said it has no current plans to introduce a Human Rights Act.

“We have a long term plan for Tasmania that prioritises jobs, health, education and supporting Tasmanians in need,” a spokesperson said.

Labor has indicated a willingness to consult with the public about creating a charter of human rights and responsibilities.

“Labor in government consulted widely on a charter similar to the one in place in Victoria, which requires all legislation to be reviewed against the Charter,” Opposition Attorney-General Lara Giddings said.

“The cost of implementation meant we could not pursue a Tasmanian Charter at that time as the GFC [global financial crisis] had started to hit our revenues.”

The proposal to create an act was discarded due to budget pressure.

“Human rights is something that we should be pursuing all the time not only at times when it can be afforded,” lead petitioner and Civil Liberties Australia’s Richard Griggs said. 

Mr Griggs said an act would protect the human rights which underpin society.

“A lot of people assume that here in Australia we have our rights protected through law and what the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute found in their report in 2007 was that is actually not the case,” he said.

If Tasmania was to adopt a Human Rights Act, it would become the third jurisdiction to do so.

“The ideal outcome is a federal bill of rights to provide the same protection to all people regardless of which state they live in, but in the absence of that the states begin to go it alone,” Mr Griggs said.

Tasmanian Law Reform Institute director Terese Henning said Australia is currently the only Western country without clearly established human rights.

“A lot of people think our rights are protected by the common law, well the common law doesn’t protect a whole bunch of rights,” she said.

“It’s a really important that every jurisdiction in Australia, including the commonwealth, have a human rights act so that we can set down clearly what our rights as citizens are.”

Associate professor Henning said developing human rights protections are more important now than ever.

“One of the reactions people in power have to events like [the London Bridge and Brighton attacks] is to enact legislation which encroaches upon rights,” she said.

“Often it does absolutely no good at all in protecting people and it plays right into terrorists hands. It achieves the kind of society that they actually wish to create. We need to be standing up to terrorists to preserve our rights and fundamental freedoms.”