Our vision: A fair legal system that is free from racial injustice and that upholds the principles of dignity, equality and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ right to self-determination.

Tanya Day was a proud Yorta Yorta woman and much-loved sister, mother, grandmother and community advocate. In December 2017, she fell asleep on a train from Echuca to Melbourne. A train conductor woke her up and, despite her doing nothing, deemed her unruly and triggered a series of events which culminated in the police arresting Tanya.

Rather than taking Tanya to a hospital, she was locked up in a concrete cell for being drunk in public. Tanya fell and hit her head on a number of occasions, but the police officers responsible for her care failed to properly check on her. She lay injured on the floor for three hours. When the police finally entered her cell, they called 000 but told a self-serving, untrue story about how she fell. Tanya later died from a brain haemorrhage.

At the time of Tanya’s arrest, Aboriginal women were 10 times more likely for being drunk in public than non-Indigenous women. Just before the inquest commenced, the Victorian Government committed to decriminalising public drunkenness.

The Human Rights Law Centre represented the Day family in the coronial inquest into Tanya’s death. Throughout the inquest, the family’s legal team cross-examined over 30 witnesses over three weeks on whether systemic racism played a role in Tanya’s death.

In a landmark decision, the Coroner referred the Victoria Police officers involved in Tanya’s death to the DPP for criminal investigation, on the basis that “an indictable offence may have been committed”. The Coroner also found that:

• The V/Line officer who woke Tanya up on the train was influenced by unconscious bias and his decision making was influenced by her Aboriginality; 

• The police should have sought medical advice or taken Tanya to a hospital, before deciding to lock her up;

• Once in the police cell, Tanya was not checked on in accordance with police procedures and that her human rights to be treated humanely and with dignity were breached; and

• There was a culture of complacency within Victoria Police with respect to how they treat intoxicated people in their care.

In a decision that speaks volumes about police impunity, the DPP notified the Day family that they will not be prosecuting the police officers involved in Tanya’s death.

Stopping the Australian Government from making life harder for mothers

Single parents have enough on their plates and experience poverty at much higher rates than two-parent families. Rather than recognise the enormous burden shouldered by single parents, most of whom are women, the Australian Government introduced a program that asks them to do more or face being financially penalised.

Called ‘ParentsNext’, this punitive program targets single parents with babies as young as six months. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents are disproportionately affected. The program is linked with a largely automated system of financial sanctions. In some of the worst cases, women with young kids have been left without money for days because of computer and service providers’ mistakes.

The Human Rights Law Centre is collaborating with peak Aboriginal and women’s organisations to end this discriminatory program. We briefed a Senate committee, participated in media interviews, met with politicians and advocated to the United Nations.

As a result of the collaborative campaign, the government was forced to make some changes. While these were positive, they are a long way from addressing the sexist and racist foundations of the program. We continue to collaborate with Aboriginal organisations for the program to be scrapped. 

Fighting to keep kids in schools and communities, not in prison

Right now, across Australia, laws allow ten-year-old kids to be arrested, hauled before courts and locked away in prisons. We know that sending kids to jail causes terrible harm, yet each year around 600 kids under the age of 14, the majority of whom are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, are torn from their families and communities.

The Human Rights Law Centre has been advocating for governments to listen to the overwhelming evidence that shows that kids have a much brighter future when they stay in their communities. Together with Aboriginal partner organisations, we’ve been calling on all Australian governments to raise the age of criminal responsibility from ten to 14 years.

We’re coordinating coalitions of lawyers, doctors and advocates to push for this reform across Australia. We’ve met with key decision makers and ministers in almost every jurisdiction and we’ve spoken about children’s rights on national radio and television. Momentum is building, with the Australian Medical Association and the United Nations calling on governments to raise the age.

In September, Shahleena Musk and Edwina MacDonald worked with Dujuan, the 12-year-old star from the powerful documentary In My Blood It Runs, his family and the film-makers at the United Nations in Geneva. We supported Dujuan to deliver an impassioned statement to the Human Rights Council about the need to raise the age of criminal responsibility so that kids aren’t hurt in prisons and the need for Aboriginal-led schools. Dujuan was the youngest person ever to address the Council.

After his speech, UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet requested to meet Dujuan, saying she was “shocked to learn that the age of criminal responsibility in Australia is only ten years old.”

Shahleena also briefed the Committee on the Rights of the Child, informing its review of the Australian Government’s record on the rights of children. The Committee subsequently called on Australia to raise the age.

Raising the age of criminal responsibility is a straightforward reform that will make a huge difference. Together with our partners, we’ll keep pushing to keep kids in classrooms and playgrounds, and at home with their families and communities, not in courtrooms or prison cells.