Eight legal and civil society groups have today called on the Australian Senate to establish a Select Committee with broad powers to review and report on the Federal Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the Australian Government and health experts have recommended that we use the most effective measure to help ‘flatten the curve’: social distancing. This is, however, impossible in our prisons.

Mining giant Rio Tinto is responsible for multiple human rights violations caused by pollution from its former mine on the Pacific island of Bougainville, the Human Rights Law Centre concludes in a major new investigative report released this week.

In the midst of the public health emergency that is COVID-19, prisons must not be given a free pass to subject people to harmful and outdated practices like solitary confinement, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Royal Commision into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

Any attempt by the Morrison Government to turn the Northern Territory into a Cashless Debit Card trial site during the COVID-19 pandemic would be irresponsible and potentially deadly.

In the face of so much change and uncertainty, standing up for kindness, dignity and defending human rights – particularly the rights of the most vulnerable in our community – is more important than ever.

Limits on the amount of money political parties, candidates and campaigners can spend on elections are needed to restore trust in democracy and achieve greater political equality, a Parliamentary Committee will hear today.

The Andrews Government must take a stand against rising hate in the Victorian community, say a coalition of Union, civil society, faith-based and human rights groups who will give evidence on Wednesday to a Parliamentary Inquiry considering proposed changes to Victoria’s anti-vilification laws.

Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, addressed the United Nations in Geneva to call out the Morrison Government’s continued cruel treatment of people still held on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea.

As International Women’s Day nears, the UN has heard that Australia is set to undermine people’s healthcare, while giving religious bodies unprecedented privileges to discriminate with laws that will make it harder for women to access contraception and abortion.

Chief law-makers in Australia must promote the rights of children with a commitment to raise the age at which children can be locked up, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a Working Group tasked to consider the age of legal responsibility.

Laws that require telecommunication companies to keep records of every single Australian’s phone calls, text messages and movements for at least two years must be amended to prevent the indiscriminate invasion of people’s privacy, a Parliamentary Committee heard today.