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. 

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.

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.

A historic independent environmental and human rights legacy impact assessment of Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine will begin in Bougainville this week.

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.

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.

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.

The Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Minister for Immigration to act to end a decade of intentional family separation

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.

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.

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.