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:

• Ensure everyone in Australia is treated with respect by government authorities
• Ensure people can seek justice when their rights are breached
• Implement the international legal protections Australia has agreed to and expects of others
• Provide a holistic framework for balancing competing rights fairly and transparently
• Improve law-making and government policy to be consistent with human rights standards
• Improve the fairness of public service delivery and outcomes
• 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.

Caitlin Reiger, CEO, Human Rights Law Centre:

“A federal Human Rights Charter is essential to preventing the next Robodebt-like failure and the harm it caused to so many. A Charter ensures that government decision-making respects our human rights, and empowers people to take action when they don’t.

“Human rights are the basic minimum standards of dignity, equality and respect to which all people are entitled to wherever they live and whoever they are. In ratifying seven international human rights treaties, the Australian government has committed to protecting these rights through its laws, policies and actions. However, we see every single day in aged care facilities, immigration detention centres and royal commission findings, these commitments alone are not enough to change outcomes.

“A federal Charter will help prevent systemic rights abuses experienced by marginalised communities, hold public authorities accountable and build a rights respecting national culture.

“December 2023 will mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Australia is lagging far behind our peers in bringing it into our domestic law. Australians do not yet enjoy comprehensive legal protection of our fundamental human rights. It’s past time for concrete discussion of a draft Australian Charter of Human Rights, and we stand ready to assist in this process.”

Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission here.

Photo Credit: LeoPatrizi on iStock

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au