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. 
 
In its submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, 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 of Human Rights will help prevent systemic rights abuses experienced by marginalised communities, hold public authorities accountable and build a rights respecting national culture.” 

Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission here.

Media contact:
Michelle Bennett, Engagement Director, 0419 100 519, michelle.bennett@hrlc.org.au