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. 

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.

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.

The High Court will next month hear a landmark legal challenge to the Australian government’s power to hold people in immigration detention indefinitely.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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. 

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. 

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.