PROJECT | Climate Justice, Human Rights Laws

In August 2024, we had a significant win when the ACT Government enshrined the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in the Territory’s Human Rights Act. 

Our human rights depend on a safe and healthy planet. As the source of our food, water, and air, a healthy environment holds the key to our survival and wellbeing. That’s why the Human Rights Law Centre has been working with civil society partners to advocate for the right to a healthy environment to be included in state and territory human rights acts and charters, as well as for the introduction of a national Human Rights Act.  

In 2024, we successfully advocated for the establishment of a right to a healthy environment to be added to the ACT’s Human Rights Act. In doing so, the ACT became the first jurisdiction in Australia to enshrine this right, setting an important precedent we can now build on in other Australian jurisdictions. This important change will help communities in the ACT impacted by climate and environmental harms to better hold their government to account. 

The Human Rights Law Centre continues to lead the public campaign and engage with politicians for the introduction of a national Human Rights Act with the inclusion of a right to healthy environment. A national Human Rights Act could make a real impact on the climate crisis as it would help ensure the federal government considers human rights when making policy decisions, as well as boosting the power of people and communities seeking remedies when their rights are breached. 

In May 2024, the Federal Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights recommended that the right to a healthy environment be enshrined in federal law as part of a national Human Rights Act.