Australian civil society organisations have welcomed the EU’s new corporate due diligence law as a significant step forward for the protection of people and the planet and called on the Albanese Government to follow Europe's lead.
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Ten international civil society organisations with extensive experience in human rights and environmental issues warn that the lack of prior consultation of the 11 Indigenous Peoples of Jujuy in the approval process for the reform of the provincial constitution is incompatible with international human rights and environmental standards.
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The High Court will today hear a challenge to the Australian Government’s continued detention of people who cannot be forced to return to their country of citizenship.
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Refugee Women Action for Visa Equality (WAVE) and the Human Rights Law Centre will give evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry today calling for the Albanese Government’s dangerous and draconian proposed deportation laws to be rejected.
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The Human Rights Law Centre and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency have slammed the decision made by the NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler today to extend the curfew in Mparntwe/Alice Springs.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has appeared before a Parliamentary Inquiry to call for comprehensive reform of Commonwealth whistleblowing laws so that whistleblowers are protected, not punished.
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Shockwaves of the war in Gaza: Rights to speech, protest and information must be guaranteed globally to fight antisemitism and islamophobia.
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Today, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan responded to the Yoorrook for Justice report. Prepared by the first formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria, the Yoorrook for Justice report made 46 recommendations for crucial change of the state’s legal system.
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The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Human Rights Law Centre and Democracy in Colour have denounced the Albanese Government’s rushed law that would further punish people who have been unlawfully held in indefinite immigration detention.
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The High Court is set to hear a challenge in April to the Australian Government’s continued detention of people who cannot be forced to return to their country of citizenship.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today urged the Victorian Government to reject any proposal that would require protesters to obtain a permit to peacefully gather and demand change on issues they care about.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is appearing before the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor to call for Australia’s national secrecy laws to be improved to encourage transparency and accountability.
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A coalition of 41 human rights advocates, unions, faith groups and academics have called on the Albanese Government to address major issues with Australia’s Modern Slavery Act and the proposed new Anti-Slavery Commissioner role.
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The Allan Government’s gutless backflip on changes to youth bail laws will harm generations of Victorian children, and keep children needlessly locked up away behind bars in pre-trial detention.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to end the offshore detention regime, and evacuate all those who are still offshore to Australia, as the coronial inquest into the death of Faysal Ishak Ahmed begins today.
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In a joint submission, the #OurDemocracy alliance are calling on the Albanese Government to overhaul lobbying laws and ensure our politicians are accountable to the people, not big industries.
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Australia’s national secrecy laws should be recalibrated to encourage transparency and accountability in the public interest.
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The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling on the Albanese Government to act on age pension discrimination, after the High Court today declined to hear an appeal in the legal challenge seeking equal access to the age pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the South Australian Parliament to legislate a Human Rights Act, which would benefit the lives of every person in South Australia.
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A legislated duty of care to current and future Australian children would positively accelerate the Australian Government’s action to tackle climate change and create a fairer and more sustainable future, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell a Senate committee in evidence today.
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Too many people, especially children, do not have full access to their right to education, according to the Right to Education in Australia report, authored by the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Law and Social Justice in collaboration with the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Following many delays, the coronial inquest into the police shooting death of Warlpiri and Luritja teenager Kumanjayi Walker is set to recommence on 22 February 2024 to hear from the last two witnesses - former NT police officer Zachary Rolfe and Sergeant Lee Bauwens.
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The Human Rights Law Centre will today urge the Albanese Government to strengthen the powers of its new proposed Anti-Slavery Commissioner in evidence given to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
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The announcement this week that some ten thousand more frontline police and protective services officers (PSOs) in Victoria will be equipped with Tasers is very concerning, according to a coalition of Victorian legal and community services groups.
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In light of an imminent military operation by the Israeli Defense Force in Rafah and the ongoing assault on Gaza, the Human Rights Law Centre has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister Penny Wong, Minister Richard Marles and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC with an urgent call for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people.
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Former whistleblowers, experts and civil society groups are calling on the Albanese government to establish a Whistleblower Protection Authority as part of Australia’s integrity and regulatory landscape.
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The Human Rights Law Centre and Migrant Justice Institute welcome legislation passed this week that is the first critical step to upholding migrant workers’ rights at work.
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In the wake of interim orders made by the International Court of Justice on 26 January 2024, the Human Rights Law Centre calls for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people, including by supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
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Change the Record and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling on the Miles Government to overhaul the state’s outdated, punitive youth justice system and redirect funding towards a future where no child grows up in a prison cell.
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South Australian community services, human rights advocates and First Nations organisations are calling on the Malinauskas Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Albanese Government to strengthen the powers of its new proposed Anti-Slavery Commissioner to enable the role to more effectively tackle modern slavery.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights, social services, health, youth, religious and legal advocates have expressed deep concerns in an open letter about the mistreatment of children in the Victoria’s youth prisons.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has called for an overhaul of the Public Interest Disclosure Act, the federal law protecting public servant whistleblowers, and a whistleblower protection authority to improve transparency and accountability in Australia’s democracy, in a submission to the Attorney-General’s Department.
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The ACT Court of Appeal has published previously secret judgments to mark the end of the Bernard Collaery and Witness K saga, underscoring the need for the Albanese Government to implement transparency and whistleblowing reforms.
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The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the missing human rights considerations in federal government decisions and policies, the Human Rights Law Centre today told the Federal Government COVID-19 inquiry on behalf of the Charter of Rights campaign, a coalition made up of over 90 organisations.
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The United Nations torture prevention body has formally terminated its visit to Australia after being forced to leave the country early in October following the prevention of full access to prisons and mental health facilities in New South Wales and Queensland.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed the launch of an inquiry by the South Australian Parliament into whether the state should join Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory by enacting a Human Rights Act or Charter.
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Tasmania is set to become the first Australian jurisdiction to ensure no child under 14 years old will grow up in a jail cell, in an announcement welcomed by the National Raise the Age campaign, a coalition of more than 130 organisations.
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The Human Rights Law Centre and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre have condemned the Albanese Government’s proposed introduction of a preventive detention regime that would create a parallel legal system allowing migrants and refugees to be imprisoned on the basis of what they might do in the future.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling for the ACT Government to strengthen its proposal to add the right to a healthy environment to the Human Rights Act 2004.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed recommendations by an independent review into the law that enabled the prosecutions of Witness J, Witness K and Bernard Collaery to be shrouded in secrecy, and called on the Attorney-General to urgently implement the review's findings.
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Ned Kelly Emeralds, an Iranian man who has been detained for over a decade while seeking asylum, has won his challenge against his ongoing detention. Ned’s case is the first to be heard since the High Court recently ruled that indefinite detention was unlawful.
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A joint statement signed by over 100 health, legal, social, community services providers, advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations today reiterated calls for Attorneys-General to stop jailing 10 year old children and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old, with no exceptions.
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The undersigned organisations, human rights groups, and defenders are calling for the Indonesian Government to end its judicial harassment against prominent human rights defenders, Fatia Maulidiyanti and Haris Azhar as well as to further protect all human rights defenders in the country.
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New polling has found that Australians believe the government is prioritising the views of big business over ordinary people and want the Albanese Government to close secret donation loopholes.
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Kumanjayi Walker’s family are a step closer to the truth behind his death, after Coroner Armitage yesterday dismissed a request from former Constable Zachary Rolfe to remove herself from the inquest.
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A legislated duty of care to current and future Australian children would positively accelerate the Australian Government’s action to tackle climate change and create a fairer and more sustainable future, said the Human Rights Law Centre.
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NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Human Rights Law Centre and Australian Democracy Network
are deeply concerned about the heavy-handed police repression of a peaceful protest near
Port Botany.
The Human Rights Law Centre and Australian Democracy Network have today called for governments across Australia to adhere to international standards and human rights law to ensure protest rights are protected in the Declaration of Our Right to Protest.
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Civil society groups have raised concerns about the democratic impact of the prosecution of David McBride, after the Afghan Files whistleblower pleaded guilty to three charges.
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The Albanese Government must not proceed with knee-jerk, rushed legislation which continues to curtail people’s right to freedom after the High Court decision in NZYQ, the Human Rights Law Centre and Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said today.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today welcomed Monique Ryan’s Lobbying (Improving Government Honesty and Trust) Bill 2023 as the most ambitious proposal to regulate lobbying put before federal parliament in decades.
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The prosecution of war crimes whistleblower David McBride will deter whistleblowers and undermine press freedom, a coalition of civil society groups and unions have said on the opening day of McBride’s trial.
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The High Court has today ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention. The Human Rights Law Centre and UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law appeared as amici curiae – friends of the court – to successfully argue that detention is unlawful for any person the Government is unlikely to remove in the foreseeable future.
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The High Court will tomorrow hear a landmark legal challenge to the Australian Government’s power to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention. The Human Rights Law Centre and UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law will appear at the hearing as amici curiae – friends of the court – to argue that detention is unlawful for any person the Government is unlikely to remove in the foreseeable future.
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Next week on 7 November 2023, being intoxicated in public will finally be decriminalised. This is an historic and long overdue reform, with laws repealing the offence coming into effect next week.
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ACT Government has passed long awaited legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old by 2025. While the move to raise the age to 14 in the ACT is cause for some celebration, delaying this reform to 14 until 2025 and including exceptions for some 12 and 13 year old children is both extremely disappointing and immensely frustrating.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Australian Government to strengthen the powers of Australia’s principal corporate human rights watchdog, the Australian National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct.
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The Human Rights Law Centre applauds the ACT Government for introducing legislation to enshrine the ‘right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment’ into the Human Rights Act 2004. If passed, the Barr Government will be the first government in Australia to recognise the standalone right to a healthy environment in law.
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The legal profession does not currently reflect the community that it serves, and as a human rights organisation we have a responsibility to help address this. Working with counsel who have a diversity of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds is good for our clients and good for the profession. Our Equity andf Diversity policy was developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders across the profession.
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The Allan Government’s new bail laws will not meet minimum human rights standards and will mean people, including children and young people, are still needlessly funnelled into prisons, according to the Human Rights Law Centre.
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The Human Rights Law Centre have questioned the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) over its decision not to deploy mobile polling booths in hospitals and for insufficient allocation of resources to mobile polling teams on Aboriginal homelands.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today condemned the NSW Police Minister and NSW Police for refusing to allow a planned protest to go ahead by members of the Palestinian community and their supporters. It further condemned the NSW Premier, Chris Minns, for his alarming comments indicating Palestinians would not be permitted to take to the streets again in the future.
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Joint evidence to the inquiry from Transparency International Australia, Griffith University’s Centre for Governance and Public Policy and the Human Rights Law Centre calls for a single Act to protect whistleblowers across all types of private sector entities – revealing that partnerships like the major accounting firms are not adequately covered by any existing laws, for the public or private sectors.
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The Allan Government’s pause on changes to youth bail laws will cause preventable harm to Victoria’s children and young people, and keep children and young people needlessly locked up behind bars while waiting for a trial, says the Human Rights Law Centre.
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The High Court will next month hear a landmark legal challenge to the Australian government’s power to hold people in immigration detention indefinitely.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the passing of new abortion laws in Western Australia. Abortion by doctors has now been decriminalised and replaced by health-focused laws in each state and territory of Australia.
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Ned Kelly Emeralds, an Iranian man who has been detained for over a decade while seeking asylum, is in the Federal Court of Australia for a hearing to challenge his ongoing detention and apply for a release order.
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More than 70 organisations and individuals have signed a letter to the Australian Government, published in newspapers today, calling for an end to the prosecution of whistleblowers and for urgent whistleblower protection reform.
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Ned Kelly Emeralds, an Iranian man who has been detained for over a decade while seeking asylum, has won his appeal in the High Court of Australia, leaving open the possibility that courts could end indefinite detention by making ‘home detention’ orders. Despite this victory however, Ned’s detention continues – now in its eleventh year.
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The family of Veronica Marie Nelson, a strong Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman who passed away in custody, have renewed their calls to the Andrews Government to deliver wholesale and urgent reform of Victoria’s bail laws.
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The Australian parliament must reform public and private sector whistleblowing law and establish a whistleblower protection authority to address the urgent need for accessible, legal support and protections for whistleblowers, the Human Rights Law Centre said on release of a new report.
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The Albanese Government can create a lasting legacy by introducing a Charter of Human Rights to ensure that dignity, equality and respect guide all government laws and decision-making, the Human Rights Law Centre will today tell a Parliamentary Committee when it gives evidence on Australia’s Human Rights Framework.
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By exposing human rights violations, government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds, whistleblowers make Australia a stronger democracy. But right now, whistleblowers in Australia face retaliation within their own workplaces. They continue to be sued by their employers for speaking out; some are being criminally prosecuted for telling the truth.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today criticised the use of restraining orders by Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill, which silence climate activists.
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From August 22 to 25, 2023, human rights organizations from different countries carried out an independent international mission in the Province of Jujuy in response to the serious news of possible human rights violations within the framework of the recent provincial constitutional reform process.
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The Human Rights Law Centre have welcomed the draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 (Cth) as a positive step toward regulating social media platforms, which profit from the spread of dangerous disinformation.
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Despite committing to whistleblower protections for migrant worker exploitations, the Albanese Government’s proposal will fail to protect exploited workers from visa cancellation, according to migrant workers and migrant rights experts.
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Thousands of people will continue to be senselessly funnelled into Victoria’s prisons by the Andrews Government under deferred proposed changes to bail laws, according to the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Private security firm G4S and the Australian government have settled civil proceedings with the parents of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati who was killed during the 2014 Manus Island riots.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is participating as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a landmark appeal as part of the ongoing unjust prosecution of whistleblower Richard Boyle.
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The Western Australian Parliament has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the health and equality of women and all people who experience pregnancy by bringing the state’s outdated abortion laws into line with other Australian states and territories.
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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.
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The #OurDemocracy alliance, welcomed Kate Chaney MP’s positive step towards shining a light on secret donations in introducing the Restoring Trust Bill, which proposes thirteen changes to electoral and political donation laws to bolster democratic integrity and rebuild public trust in the electoral process.
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The Migrant Workers Centre, Unions NSW, the Human Rights Law Centre, Immigration Advice and Rights Centre, and Migrant Justice Institute have set out the roadmap for strong and robust visa protections for migrant workers in a new report: Not Just Numbers: A Blueprint of Visa Protections for Temporary Migrant Workers.
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A coalition of Aboriginal, community, justice and human rights organisations says that as new NT laws to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years come into effect today, there is an urgent need for the NT Government to work with Aboriginal communities and organisations to ensure supports and services are available when and where children need them.
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A coalition of over 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal, social, community services and youth advocacy organisations from across Victoria have called on Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes to commit to ruling out any new powers for police over children, once the age of criminal responsibility is raised.
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The Albanese Government must immediately evacuate the 75 remaining survivors of offshore detention from Papua New Guinea and shut down its detention centres on Nauru, as it accounts for the multi-million-dollar secret payments that have propped up offshore detention over the past decade.
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The Human Rights Law Centre will appear before the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, Grant Donaldson SC, to call for urgent and comprehensive reforms to national security laws to protect open justice.
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A decade ago today, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced he would not allow any person seeking asylum by sea to settle in Australia. The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to end 10 years of calculated, cruel policies inflicted on people who came to Australia seeking safety.
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A report from ACT parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, tabled on Friday, failed to recommend necessary changes to proposed legislation to raise the age. Advocates have been unequivocal in calling for the Barr Government to raise the age to at least 14 with no carve-outs.
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The Federal Court of Australia has dismissed the legal challenge seeking fair and equal access to the age pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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The Albanese Government must seize the moment to introduce an Australian Charter of Human Rights to guide government decision making, prevent breaches of human rights and provide access to justice, the Charter campaign today told a parliamentary inquiry.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has become a member of the Whistleblowing International Network, the global peak body for whistleblower protection organisations.
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Kumanjayi Walker’s family are a step closer to the truth behind his death, after the Northern Territory Court of Appeal today dismissed an appeal from Zachary Rolfe said the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA).
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The last refugee held on Nauru to be evacuated to Australia after 10 years arrived last night, in a welcome and long overdue move for refugees. However, around 80 people still held in Papua New Guinea need urgent evacuation.
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The Australian Government must strengthen its commitment to human rights in its laws, policies and practices, the Human Rights Law Centre said today in response to new comprehensive data looking at the state of human rights in Australia.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has been granted leave to participate as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a landmark appeal as part of the ongoing unjust prosecution of whistleblower Richard Boyle.
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The Western Australian Parliament has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the health and equality of women and all people who experience pregnancy by reforming the state’s outdated abortion laws.
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The recommendations from an inquiry into the 2022 federal election to strengthen Australia’s democracy could also have the unintended consequence of silencing civil society voices in election debates
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Item 2: Enhanced interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
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Initial amendments to Australia’s federal public sector whistleblowing law, the Public Interest Disclosure Act, are a welcome step towards much-needed comprehensive reform,.
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Reports that the last people remaining in Nauru under Australia's offshore detention policy would soon leave the island have been welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre, with a warning that the same must be done for those languishing in Papua New Guinea.
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A national security law used to shroud court cases in secrecy is undemocratic, possibly unconstitutional and in urgent need of comprehensive reform.
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Leaders in communities impacted by Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine are growing increasingly concerned about the dangerous and volatile situation they are living in. In particular, recent heavy rainfall has seen rivers choked with mine tailings waste flood, swamping several communities.
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Migrant Justice Institute and the Human Rights Law Centre today welcome the Albanese Government's commitment to introducing visa-based protections for migrant workers who address exploitation at work.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to repatriate all Australian nationals still held in detention camps in Syria, after Save the Children were today forced to commence legal action because the Government has failed to act.
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The Malinauskas Government’s anti-protest laws have passed the South Australian Legislative Council. The laws, which were rushed through Parliament without any public consultation, will undermine the ability of everyone in South Australia to exercise their right to peacefully protest.
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Undermining democracy and silencing whistleblowers, journalists and human rights defenders.
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We call on the SA Legislative Council to block proposed anti-protest laws that were rushed through the House of Assembly by the Malinauskas Government.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to repatriate all Australian nationals still held in detention camps in Syria, after Save The Children recently warned it would be forced to commence legal action if the Government failed to act.
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The High Court is set to hear an appeal brought by an Iranian man who has been detained for nearly a decade while seeking asylum. The appeal will determine for the first time whether the Federal Court has the power to direct that a person be detained at a location in the community, rather than a detention centre.
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The ACT Government has been criticised for its failure to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 right away, with justice advocates saying the welfare of 12- and 13-year-old children cannot wait until 2025.
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The Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes will today give evidence to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria, where she is expected to be questioned about the over imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Australians overwhelmingly believe that whistleblowers make Australia a better place and should be protected, not prosecuted, finds new research by The Australia Institute and the Human Rights Law Centre.
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The Human Rights Law Centre, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Migrant Workers Centre has appeared before the Joint Standing Committee on Migration calling for Australia’s migration laws to centre the rights of people over punitive politics and economic profit.
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The Andrews government has today announced its intention to raise the age of criminal responsibility to only 12 years old. The Government’s commitment to consider raising the age to 14 by 2027 is too little, too late, and risks exposing an entire generation of children to the quicksand of the criminal legal system.
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An open letter signed by 126 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal, community and human rights organisations today reiterated calls to Attorneys-General to stop jailing 10 year old kids and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old, with no exception.
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Raising the age to 14 is the absolute bare minimum reform the Andrews Government must make. Anything less than 14 will continue to be an abject failure by the Andrews Government to uphold the human rights of children and young people in Victoria.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the long overdue publication of Witness J’s sentencing remarks by ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum after years of secrecy.
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As more people and their personal data fall victim to increased data harvesting in Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Federal Government to embrace bold proposed reforms to better protect people’s right to privacy.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to address the root causes of systemic family visa delays and finally end the deliberate separation of refugee families, after a new report found the Department of Home Affairs failed to prevent family visa applications being stalled or delayed.
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60 Victorian organisations in the Aboriginal, legal, health, faith, youth and human rights sectors, including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, VACCHO, Jesuit Social Services and Human Rights Law Centre, have in a joint letter called on Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jacyln Symes to commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14, no younger, and with no exceptions.
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A coalition of human rights organisations and academics has today released a new research report revealing the results of a detailed survey of nearly 90 business groups on the impact of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today urged the Attorney-General to discontinue the prosecution of tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle and fix whistleblower protection laws, after Boyle’s whistleblowing defence was dismissed by the South Australian District Court.
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The family of Veronica Marie Nelson, a strong Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman who passed away in custody, are calling on the Andrews Government to implement urgent changes to the state's bail laws and have asked that these reforms are referred to as Poccum’s Law.
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While Australia has been an early mover on reform for online safety and digital media, it lags on key aspects of regulating digital platforms. The Human Rights Law Centre’s submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the influence of international digital platforms calls for greater transparency and regulation to protect human rights.
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This week, the Federal Government had the opportunity to end a decade of cruel, inhumane treatment of 150 people stranded in offshore detention. Instead, the Albanese Government voted with the Coalition and One Nation to block Greens senator Nick McKim’s Evacuation to Safety Bill that would remove the last refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
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Queensland’s public sector whistleblowing laws were once world-leading; they now lag behind other Australian jurisdictions. Queensland’s public sector whistleblowing laws are in need of an urgent overhaul, a coalition of organisations have told an independent review into the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 (Qld).
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The AHRC paper, Free + Equal endorses the clear calls made by the Human Rights Law Centre and a coalition of over 80 organisations urging the Federal Government to follow the examples set by Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory and adopt a legally enforceable Federal Human Rights Act or Charter.
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In response to Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes’ announcement addressing Victoria’s bail laws, the Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Andrews Government to listen to Aboriginal organisations and expert advice, and commit to wholesale bail reform as recommended by Coroner McGregor.
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A national coalition of over 40 legal service providers, unions, ethnic community peak bodies, churches, and national organisations is calling on Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil to urgently bring widespread migrant worker exploitation out of the shadows.
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The coronial inquest into the police-shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker will next week hear evidence from Aboriginal experts on community-led solutions to prevent future deaths in custody of Aboriginal people.
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The United Nations torture prevention body has formally terminated its visit to Australia after being forced to leave the country early in October following the prevention of full access to prisons and mental health facilities in New South Wales and Queensland.
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A legal challenge against the Australian Government, seeking fair and equal access to the age pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will be heard by the Full Federal Court. Proud Wakka Wakka man Uncle Dennis* is bringing the case, where the Federal Government will face court for its failure to close the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people.
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The Albanese Government’s announcement that it will provide a pathway to permanent residency for people on temporary protection visas offers hope at last to thousands of people who have built lives in Australia but have been held back by punitive visa rules.
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Today the Federal Government abolished Ministerial Direction 80, a policy that has intentionally kept thousands of refugee families apart for a decade. While the policy change marks a necessary first step towards reuniting people with their loved ones, the Human Rights Law Centre calls for further action from the Albanese Government to stop separating families to punish and deter people from seeking safety in Australia.
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The Human Rights Law Centre urges the Albanese Government and Treasurer Jim Chalmers to improve the upcoming Federal Budget for people across the community by placing human rights at the heart of the budget decisions they will be making.
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The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will release data on 1 February revealing how much political parties and third parties spent in the 2022 Federal election, and the donations used to fund those campaigns.
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The Human Rights Law Centre, Griffith University’s Centre for Governance & Public Policy and Transparency International Australia have called for a comprehensive reform process to ensure stronger protections for Australian whistleblowers, building on initial announcements by the Albanese government about its first steps.
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Australia faces a looming international deadline to fully implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol - by 20 January 2023 - but Australian governments are not on track to meet this deadline.
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The Victorian Government has made a formal decision not to give Victorian police any new powers to arrest or lock people up in police cells once public drunkenness is decriminalised in November 2023.
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A joint submission by People With Disability Australia (PWDA), Children and Young people with Disability Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre, has outlined the importance of an Australian Charter of Human Rights for people with a disability and the need for human rights to be at the heart of government laws, policies and services.
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The Human Rights Law Centre, the Australian Democracy Network and the Australia Institute today welcomes the federal Greens’ announcement to protect the right to protest.
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Western Australia has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the health and equality of women and all people who experience pregnancy by reforming the state’s outdated abortion laws, the Human Rights Law Centre have told the McGowan Government in a submission to inform the government's drafting of new abortion laws.
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The Human Rights Law Centre will today call on the Andrews government to fast track critical reforms that would immediately reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing injustice at the hands of the criminal legal system, in evidence to be heard by the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal and human rights organisations today welcomed the release of a government report and called on Attorneys-General to immediately act on its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility with no exceptions.
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A new report exposes the failure of the Federal parliament in the 2019 –22 term to fulfil its promise to properly consider human rights before voting on legislation. 60% of legislation with human rights concerns was made into law with no review completed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.
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The national Raise the Age alliance is calling for Attorneys-General to release a secret government report and immediately enact its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14.
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A historic independent environmental and human rights legacy impact assessment of Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine will begin in Bougainville this week.
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Transparency International Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre and Griffith University’s Centre for Governance & Public Policy welcomed the release of initial amendments to Australia’s federal public sector whistleblowing law, but called for a more comprehensive approach to whistleblower protection in 2023.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes recommendations by a Parliamentary committee that Members of Parliament, their staff and Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces more broadly adopt behaviour standards and codes which state that bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, assault and discrimination will not be tolerated, condoned, or ignored.
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The Australian parliament must reform public and private sector whistleblowing law and establish a whistleblower protection authority, according to a report published on Wednesday by Griffith University, the Human Rights Law Centre and Transparency International Australia.
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The Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Minister for Immigration to act to end a decade of intentional family separation
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A coalition of human rights organisations and academics are calling on the Federal Government to overhaul Australia's modern slavery laws after a major investigation has found, three years into the Act’s operation, companies are still failing to identify obvious modern slavery risks in their supply chains or take action to address them.
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This week, the Australian Government is set to be questioned by the United Nations anti-torture watchdog on its compliance with the UN’s anti-torture treaty - the Convention Against Torture. Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre have briefed the Committee overseeing Australia’s compliance with the anti-torture treaty, and call on the Albanese Government to end human rights abuses behind bars ahead of the country’s report being considered this week.
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We’re very pleased to announce that Ben Kiely has accepted the role of Chair of the Board at the Human Rights Law Centre. Ben is taking over from Robynne Quiggin who is stepping away from the role due to increased commitments following her promotion to Interim Pro-Vice Chancellor Indigenous Leadership and Engagement at the University of Technology Sydney.
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A new report by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Human Rights Law Centre, Labour in Limbo: Bridging Visa E holders and Modern Slavery Risk in Australia, casts a new light on the continued suffering of people who sought safety in Australia by boat.
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The Human Rights Law Centre will today appear before the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards (Committee), to give evidence for reforms that would ensure that politicians and all people working in, or visiting, the Commonwealth Parliament fall under a code of conduct. The code should cover not just gender-based bullying, harassment and assault, but other forms of discrimination, including racism, ableism and transphobia.
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The Human Rights Law Centre wishes to correct a statement issued on 27 October 2022, ‘McBride prosecution proceeding to trial after Attorney-General intervention undermines whistleblowing defence’.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has condemned the ongoing injustice in the prosecution of David McBride, who blew the whistle on allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
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The Human Rights Law Centre, the Australian Human Rights Institute (UNSW Sydney) and Amnesty International Australia today welcomed the passing of new legislation that will ensure appointments to the Australian Human Rights Commission are made through a merits-based selection system.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today pays tribute to our incredible colleague and Board member, Fiona Smith AM, who passed away last week.
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The Human Rights Law Centre and Australian Centre for International Justice are calling for an end to the unjust prosecution of war crimes whistleblower David McBride, as his whistleblowing defence hearing begins in Canberra on Thursday.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are reiterating calls for a new independent body to investigate allegations of police misconduct in light of research that has found public trust in Victoria Police has hit a new low after countless scandals.
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We express profound concern that the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has been forced to take the drastic measure of suspending its visit to Australia due to obstruction encountered while attempting to carrying out its mandate during its visit to Australia under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).
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This week the International Commission of Jurists, Victoria announced Sanmati Verman, Managing Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, as the winner of the 2022 John Gibson Award for her work defending the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today welcomed the announcement by the ACT Government that they will make it easier for people to take effective action when their human rights are being violated.
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A statement of concern from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Community Legal Centres NSW, Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), Amnesty International Australia, Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), First People’s Disability Network Australia (FPDNA) and Change the Record.
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The draft legislation to establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is a missed opportunity for whistleblower protections and should be strengthened, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a parliamentary inquiry.
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The Human Rights Law Centre will today appear before the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (Committee), to advocate for reforms that will make elections fairer and our democracy stronger.
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The Albanese Government must end the practice of locking people in immigration detention for years on end in dire conditions, human rights experts have told the United Nations, ahead of its investigation of the Australian government’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture treaty. It must also repeal laws that are resulting in record numbers of people being detained.
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In the lead up to the 2022 Victorian state election, the Human Rights Law Centre this week launched its state election platform calling on all parties to end the state’s mass imprisonment crisis and create a fairer legal system for everyone.
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In a joint submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre call on the Albanese government to end human rights abuses in prisons and police cells. Mistreatment that can amount to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is too common in prisons and police cells across the country.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC to discontinue the unjust prosecution of tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle, with his defence hearing set to begin in Adelaide on Tuesday.
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The Albanese Government will finally end the failed, ineffective Cashless Debit Card trial after legislation passed the Senate last night to allow people to leave the scheme early.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the release of a landmark report on facial recognition technology (FRT) and called on the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus KC, to urgently regulate the technology to prevent human rights harms.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today announced the appointment of international human rights expert Caitlin Reiger as the incoming Chief Executive Officer. After an extensive selection process, Reiger will join the Centre from November 2022.
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The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), with support from the Human Rights Law Centre, is taking part in the coronial inquest into the police-shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is urging the ACT government to lead the nation and introduce the ‘right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment’ into the Human Rights Act 2004.
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A new independent report reviewing satellite images and other historical data on Rio Tinto's former Panguna mine has warned of serious risks to local communities posed by unstable mine infrastructure and flooding caused by the build-up of mine waste in the rivers.
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The Rockliff government’s alarming new anti-protest law has passed the Upper House in a move that will weaken Tasmania’s democracy and erode the right to protest.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the release of an Issues Paper this week as part of the three-year review of the Modern Slavery Act.
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Leading Tasmanian and national civil society organisations are calling on members of the Legislative Council to vote against the Rockliff government’s dangerous new anti-protest law.
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We support the 6 organisations that have been designated as “terrorist groups” under Israel’s anti-terrorism law and call for the Israeli government to immediately reverse its decision and remove them from the list of terrorist organisations.
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Today a coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, human rights and youth justice organizations will reiterate calls for the Victorian government to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 with the backing of 65,799 Victorian residents who have signed the petition to raise the age.
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An Afghanistan-Australian father has been reunited with his wife and four children after four years of visa delays, and following the Australian Government conceding defeat in a court case brought by the family.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed a finding from the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, a national security watchdog, that the level of secrecy in the trial of an intelligence officer known as Witness J should not have occurred and can never be repeated.
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The Human Rights Law Centre, the Australian Human Rights Institute (UNSW Sydney) and Amnesty International Australia welcomed the introduction of a proposed law that would help ensure the Australian Human Rights Commission is independent and effective.
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Nine years on from the announcement that all people seeking asylum by boat would be prevented from settling in Australia, the federal government’s shameful treatment of people seeking safety continues.
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After 15 years of operation, key laws sustaining the discriminatory Northern Territory Intervention will end on Sunday.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the announcement that the federal government will drop the prosecution of whistleblower Bernard Collaery.
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More than 15 months after being passed by Parliament, the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2021 is now law in South Australia.
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The US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that recognised abortion as a constitutional right, is a devastating blow to the lives of women in America and highlights the need for vigilance in Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre warned today.
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Tasmanians’ right to protest has been undermined with the Rockliff government’s dangerous new anti-protest law passing the second reading phase in the Legislative Council earlier today.
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Forty civil society organisations have expressed alarm at reports of police overreach in preemptive policing of protest, with NSW police conducting covert surveillance and a raid on climate activists north of Sydney on Sunday.
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Leading Tasmanian and national civil society organisations are urging the Tasmanian Upper House to reject the Rockliff government’s alarming new anti-protest law.
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The Human Rights Law Centre’s Kieran Pender has been awarded the Lawyers Weekly Pro Bono/Community Lawyer of the Year.
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Australia’s only First Nations justice coalition Change the Record welcomes the Tasmanian Government’s commitment to enact laws ensuring children under the age of 14 years old will not be sent to youth prisons. However, the Coalition urges the Tasmanian Government to fully implement the advice of legal and medical experts and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old to protect very young children from any harmful engagement with the criminal justice system.
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Long overdue laws that will end the routine strip searching of children in Tasmanian jails passed the Tasmanian Parliament yesterday.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the appointment of Clare O’Neil as the Minister for Home Affairs and Andrew Giles as the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and has called on them to take action to end a decade of cruelty against refugees and people seeking safety.
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The Federal Court has ordered that a case against the Federal Government, seeking fair and equal access to the age pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will be heard by the Full Court of the Federal Court later this year to determine important questions of law.
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Human rights laws in Victoria, the ACT and Queensland are making concrete improvements to people’s lives, particularly by preventing homelessness and promoting health, according to a new report by the Human Rights Law Centre.
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A Federal Court case against the federal government, seeking fair and equal access to the Age Pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will return to court today for an interim hearing.
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Environmental Justice Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre are urging the Andrews government to withdraw a draconian proposed new law that would criminalise peaceful protest.
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After almost a decade leading the Human Rights Law Centre, Executive Director Hugh de Kretser will leave the organisation to take up the role of Chief Executive Officer at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the historic truth and justice process for First Peoples in Victoria.
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Ahead of tomorrow’s federal election, the Human Rights Law Centre has set up a register where people can record barriers they face in casting their vote.
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The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Change the Record and the Human Rights Law Centre have slammed the Northern Territory government for passing a law that limits the compensation payable to children and adults who are mistreated and abused while in their care.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Morrison Government to urgently fix the regulations that stand in the way of tens of thousands of Australians with Covid-19 exercising their fundamental democratic right to vote.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has written to the Australian Electoral Commission seeking urgent clarity around the AEC’s interpretation of phone-voting provisions for Covid-19 affected people ahead of Saturday’s federal election.
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Lawyers acting for the parents of murdered Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati have welcomed the settlement last week of civil proceedings brought by former Manus Island guard Chandra Osborne, and called on the Australian Government and G4S to now compensate Mr Berati's family.
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Leading Tasmanian and national civil society groups are calling on the Rockliff government to halt the introduction of an alarming new anti-protest law, currently before the Tasmanian Parliament.
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An alliance of Australia’s most well-established and respected charities today called on all parties to support issues-based charity advocacy in the lead up to elections.
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On World Press Freedom Day, the Human Rights Law Centre is calling on both major parties to commit to dropping the ongoing prosecutions of three Australian whistleblowers and reforming whistleblowing laws if elected.
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Ahead of the federal election, 16 community, human rights and religious groups have joined forces to call on all candidates to refrain from misleading voters and commit to reforms to stop the spread of disinformation.
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The Australian Capital Territory’s Human Rights Act needs reforming to remove needless barriers that are making it harder for people to protect their human rights, warns the Human Rights Law Centre.
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The Morrison government must ensure the Australian Human Rights Commission is independent and effective, following revelations that the Commission’s “A status” may be downgraded.
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We’re thrilled to announce that Nick Espie has joined the Centre as a Legal Director leading the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rights team, commencing in 2022. Nick is an Arrernte man who has around two decades of legal practice and policy experience working on Aboriginal justice issues.
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As Rio Tinto shareholders gather in London this week for the company’s AGM, over in Bougainville, the initial steps on a comprehensive environmental and human rights assessment of the company’s former Panguna mine have commenced.
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The passing of the Perrottet government’s new anti-protest law will undermine the ability of everyone in NSW to exercise their freedom to protest, a coalition of environmental, social justice and human rights groups has warned.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the Australian Government's ratification of the International Labour Organisation Forced Labour Protocol, which imposes legally-binding obligations on states to prevent and address forced labour.
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A coalition of environmental, social justice and human rights groups is urging the Perrottet government to halt its attempts to rush through a draconian anti-protest law, which could see peaceful community protesters jailed for up to two years.
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Australia’s family migration system is in urgent need of an overhaul to ensure that families and partners are reunited with efficiency and transparency, a Senate committee has found.
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Legal experts have slammed the Government’s decision to reintroduce the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill — which has repeatedly been rejected — as a political stunt at the cost of people on visas and their families.
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The Morrison Government’s newly announced refugee resettlement deal with New Zealand is a step in the right direction, but fails to account for almost one thousand people still affected by Australia’s offshore detention policies.
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A Victorian parliamentary inquiry has called for an overhaul of the state's bail laws following its review of the state’s criminal legal system.
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An Afghanistan-Australian family, which has waited over four years to be reunited in Australia, has brought a legal challenge against the Morrison Government’s unjustified family visa processing delays.
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The Human Rights Law Centre stands in solidarity with the family of Kumanjayi Walker and the Yuendumu community today.
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A letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member States of the United Nations in Geneva and New York from HRLC and other human rights organisations calling for Russia to be suspended from Human Rights Council.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Federal Government to take additional measures to combat forced labour as Australia prepares to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Protocol.
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Peak national justice, child welfare and advocacy groups have joined calls for the Northern Territory Government to stop using spit hoods and restraints on children.
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The Morrison Government, with the support of the ALP, last night passed damaging and unnecessary laws in the lower house, that would give the Immigration Minister more power to cancel visas and deport people who live in Australia.
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The Morrison Government is again attempting to pass damaging and unnecessary laws that would give the Immigration Minister more power to cancel visas and deport people who live in Australia. It is the third time the Coalition has attempted to pass the laws.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today called on the Morrison government to drop the unjust charges against whistleblower Bernard Collaery and urgently reform Australia’s whistleblower protection laws.
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A coalition of human rights organisations, church groups and academics are calling on the federal government to strengthen Australia's modern slavery laws after releasing a major new investigative report which found that many companies are failing to identify obvious risks of forced labour in their supply chains or take action to address them.
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Australians overwhelmingly support a pathway to permanent residency for migrants who have lived and worked in Australia for several years, according to new research.
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A damning new report details how the fossil fuels, tobacco and gambling industries use their wealth to manipulate Australia’s democratic processes to put their profits ahead of the wellbeing of Australians.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is urging Parliament to oppose the Morrison Government’s deeply unbalanced Religious Discrimination Bill, which is being introduced into Parliament today.
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Today, the Andrews Government announced that the City of Yarra, Shepperton, Dandenong and Castlemaine will be the trial site locations where the public health response to public drunkenness will be tested.
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The Department of Home Affairs did not follow its own policies and was inconsistent in its approach to family members separated by international travel restrictions, a new audit report has found.
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Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre condemned the Northern Territory Government for the skyrocketing number of children it has criminalised and imprisoned - including a ten year old child.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has urged the federal government to overhaul the legal framework for travel restrictions following the postponement of border changes for people on temporary visas.
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New laws that promote reproductive choice and freedom by removing unnecessary legal barriers to abortion in the Northern Territory have been welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the release of the Jenkins’ report, which recommends both Houses of Parliament establish “clear and consistent” codes of conduct for MPs and Senators
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The Human Rights Law Centre is urging members of Victoria’s Legislative Council to support equality for all by passing the Equal Opportunity (Religious Exceptions) Amendment Bill 2021.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed proposed amendments to Victoria’s new pandemic law, which will lead to stronger human rights protections and increased independent oversight of the government’s pandemic response.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations are calling on the Queensland Government to implement measures to prevent human rights abuses behind bars.
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