In an article titled “What value our passport?” I came across this:
“Instead of a guarantee of support, [the passports] value lies in the strength and good sense of the government of the day, he said. Australia was the only Western country not to have enshrined the rights and obligations of its people in a legal charter, he said.

“But when that system breaks down, particularly in a climate of fear, goodwill and good sense tends to go out the window and opportunism and other issues come to the fore.”
Law Council of Australia president Tim Bugg said a bill of rights had not seemed necessary until the war on terror, which saw the commitment to due process discarded. “We ought not need to have a bill of rights, but I think we now have to look at having one,” Mr Bugg said.
“The Australian passport means nothing if political considerations are involved.””