Human rights must be at the heart of Government’s response to COVID-19
The Human Rights Law Centre told the Senate Committee tasked with investigating the Federal Government’s response to COVID-19 that human rights must be at the centre of the Government’s actions, both now and into the future.
Hugh de Kretser, Executive Director with the Human Rights Law Centre said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus human rights issues requiring urgent action.
“The pandemic and its economic fallout are not impacting people equally. They are laying bare inequality and injustice in our society. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, women, older people, people in detention, people with a disability, people in insecure work and refugees and people seeking asylum are all at greater risk. Out of this crisis, we have an opportunity to build a fairer, more compassionate community with human rights at its heart.”
Read the submission to the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 here.
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.
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