Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework
The Albanese Government can create a lasting legacy by introducing an Australian Charter of Human Rights to ensure that dignity, equality and respect guide all government laws and decision-making, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
In a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework, the Centre emphasised the urgent need for a federal Charter and how it would work in practice to:
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Ensure everyone in Australia is treated with respect by government authorities
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Ensure people can seek justice when their rights are breached
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Implement the international legal protections Australia has agreed to and expects of others
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Provide a holistic framework for balancing competing rights fairly and transparently
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Improve law-making and government policy to be consistent with human rights standards
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Improve the fairness of public service delivery and outcomes
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Raise public awareness and knowledge of human rights as an integral part of Australia’s democratic and civic culture
The research details a series of recent case studies in which Australian government actions have breached people’s human rights. The people featured, and many more like them, could have avoided this harm or obtained redress if we had a strong federal Human Rights Charter.
Submission to 2025-26 Federal Budget consultation
The Human Rights Law Centre has put forward recommendations to the 2025-26 federal budget submissions across a range of issues, including campaigning for an Australian Human Rights Act, migration justice, prisoners’ rights, whistleblower protection and modern slavery.
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Submission to Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 review
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling for stronger safeguards for the right to privacy and warned that these powers enable the AFP and ACIC to undertake significant invasions of privacy, encroach on the right to privacy, and threaten to have a chilling effect on the work of journalists and their sources.
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Submission to Inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities
In a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ inquiry into antisemitism on Australian university campuses, the Human Rights Law Centre has called for reforms that uphold Australia's commitment to international human rights standards, fostering a society that respects equality, freedom, and justice for all.
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Acknowledgement of Country
The Human Rights Law Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia, including the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Gadigal, Ngunnawal, Cammeraygal, Darug, Wadawurrung, Turrbal and Jagera people where we work from.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present. This land always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
WARNING: This site contains images or names of people who have passed away.