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.

In a submission to a Senate Inquiry into the Duty of Care Bill, the Human Rights Law Centre stressed that the climate crisis poses an existential threat to current and future generations of children and called for the Albanese Government to support the Bill.

The Human Rights Law Centre has recommended that the Government:

• enacts the Duty of Care Bill, with an additional requirement that decision-makers consider impacts on children’s rights as well as their health & well-being;

• requires decision-makers to engage and consult meaningfully with children and young people when considering potential climate impacts on them;

As a further measure to strengthen Australia’s response to the climate crisis, the Human Rights Law Centre also recommended that the Government enshrines the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment into Australian law as part of a national Charter of Human Rights.

The Human Rights Law Centre noted that the proposed law would advance Australia’s international commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and bring Australia in line with countries like Canada and Portugal which have recently passed similar laws.

Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission to the Duty of Care Bill