Melbourne City Council and Victoria Police harassment of refugee protest must cease

For 94 days refugee community members and activists, together with their allies, have camped in front of government offices demanding visa equality for people failed by the former Coalition Government’s broken ‘fast track’ refugee processing system. After a decade of limbo, they are calling for permanent visas to ensure safe futures for themselves and their families.  

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Pressure building on Rio Tinto to address harms as independent assessment confirms major ongoing risks and impacts in Panguna

Communities living with the ongoing devastation from Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine in Bougainville are calling on the company to commit to funding remediation and long-term solutions, after the initial results of a major independent environmental and human rights impact assessment of the mine undertaken by Tetra Tech Coffey were presented back to communities.

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Albanese Government urged to protect current and future generations from impacts of climate crisis

The Human Rights Law Centre has urged the Albanese Government to take decisive action to protect current and future children from the existential impacts of the climate crisis after a Labor-dominated Senate Committee failed to listen to the voices of children, climate scientists and health experts calling for a legislated duty of care.  

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Argentina: the scramble for lithium threatens the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Jujuy

Ten international civil society organisations with extensive experience in human rights and environmental issues warn that the lack of prior consultation of the 11 Indigenous Peoples of Jujuy in the approval process for the reform of the provincial constitution is incompatible with international human rights and environmental standards.

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Australian Government must do all in its power to prevent genocide against Palestinian people by Israel

In light of an imminent military operation by the Israeli Defense Force in Rafah and the ongoing assault on Gaza, the Human Rights Law Centre has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister Penny Wong, Minister Richard Marles and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC with an urgent call for the Australian Government to use all efforts to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people. 

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Over 100 organisations call on Attorneys-General to raise the age to at least 14

A joint statement signed by over 100 health, legal, social, community services providers, advocates and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations today reiterated calls for Attorneys-General to stop jailing 10 year old children and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old, with no exceptions.

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Indefinite immigration detention unlawful: High Court rules

The High Court has today ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention. The Human Rights Law Centre and UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law appeared as amici curiae – friends of the court – to successfully argue that detention is unlawful for any person the Government is unlikely to remove in the foreseeable future.  

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Legal challenge to indefinite immigration detention begins in the High Court

The High Court will tomorrow hear a landmark legal challenge to the Australian Government’s power to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention. The Human Rights Law Centre and UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law will appear at the hearing as amici curiae – friends of the court – to argue that detention is unlawful for any person the Government is unlikely to remove in the foreseeable future.  

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ACT becomes the first jurisdiction to Raise the Age to 14

ACT Government has passed long awaited legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old by 2025. While the move to raise the age to 14 in the ACT is cause for some celebration, delaying this reform to 14 until 2025 and including exceptions for some 12 and 13 year old children is both extremely disappointing and immensely frustrating.

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Thomas Feng
ACT Government moves to recognise the right to a healthy environment in Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Law Centre applauds the ACT Government for introducing legislation to enshrine the ‘right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment’ into the Human Rights Act 2004. If passed, the Barr Government will be the first government in Australia to recognise the standalone right to a healthy environment in law.

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Human Rights Law Centre publishes FY22-23 equitable briefing data

The legal profession does not currently reflect the community that it serves, and as a human rights organisation we have a responsibility to help address this. Working with counsel who have a diversity of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds is good for our clients and good for the profession. Our Equity andf Diversity policy was developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders across the profession.

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MichelleBennett
Stronger whistleblower protections key to holding ‘Big Four’ accountable, hears parliamentary inquiry

Joint evidence to the inquiry from Transparency International Australia, Griffith University’s Centre for Governance and Public Policy and the Human Rights Law Centre calls for a single Act to protect whistleblowers across all types of private sector entities – revealing that partnerships like the major accounting firms are not adequately covered by any existing laws, for the public or private sectors.

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The Human Rights Law Centre launches Australia's first dedicated legal service for whistleblowers

By exposing human rights violations, government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds, whistleblowers make Australia a stronger democracy. But right now, whistleblowers in Australia face retaliation within their own workplaces. They continue to be sued by their employers for speaking out; some are being criminally prosecuted for telling the truth. 

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NT Government must work with Aboriginal communities after raising age of criminal responsibility to 12

A coalition of Aboriginal, community, justice and human rights organisations says that as new NT laws to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years come into effect today, there is an urgent need for the NT Government to work with Aboriginal communities and organisations to ensure supports and services are available when and where children need them.

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Experts push back against Victoria Police’s grab for new powers to detain children

A coalition of over 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal, social, community services and youth advocacy organisations from across Victoria have called on Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes to commit to ruling out any new powers for police over children, once the age of criminal responsibility is raised.

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Andrews government must end the mass-imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Victorian Attorney-General Symes to appear at Yoorrook 

The Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes will today give evidence to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria, where she is expected to be questioned about the over imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  

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Daniel Andrews’ failure to #RaiseTheAge to 14 slammed by Aboriginal, legal, and human rights organisations

The Andrews government has today announced its intention to raise the age of criminal responsibility to only 12 years old. The Government’s commitment to consider raising the age to 14 by 2027 is too little, too late, and risks exposing an entire generation of children to the quicksand of the criminal legal system.

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Andrews Government must listen to expert evidence and raise the age to at least 14

60 Victorian organisations in the Aboriginal, legal, health, faith, youth and human rights sectors, including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, VACCHO, Jesuit Social Services and Human Rights Law Centre, have in a joint letter called on Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jacyln Symes to commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14, no younger, and with no exceptions. 

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Case challenging age pension discrimination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be heard

A legal challenge against the Australian Government, seeking fair and equal access to the age pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will be heard by the Full Federal Court. Proud Wakka Wakka man Uncle Dennis* is bringing the case, where the Federal Government will face court for its failure to close the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people.

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Federal Government takes first step towards reuniting thousands of refugee families, but more action needed to end family separation

Today the Federal Government abolished Ministerial Direction 80, a policy that has intentionally kept thousands of refugee families apart for a decade. While the policy change marks a necessary first step towards reuniting people with their loved ones, the Human Rights Law Centre calls for further action from the Albanese Government to stop separating families to punish and deter people from seeking safety in Australia.  

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Disability Royal Commission urged to recommend a Charter of Human Rights

A joint submission by People With Disability Australia (PWDA), Children and Young people with Disability Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre, has outlined the importance of an Australian Charter of Human Rights for people with a disability and the need for human rights to be at the heart of government laws, policies and services. 

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Andrews government can end the mass-imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Yoorrook hearings

The Human Rights Law Centre will today call on the Andrews government to fast track critical reforms that would immediately reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing injustice at the hands of the criminal legal system, in evidence to be heard by the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

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Australia set to be questioned by United Nations anti-torture watchdog this week

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.

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A code of conduct for politicians must cover all forms of discrimination

The Human Rights Law Centre will today appear before the Joint Select Committee on Parliamentary Standards (Committee), to give evidence for reforms that would ensure that politicians and all people working in, or visiting, the Commonwealth Parliament fall under a code of conduct. The code should cover not just gender-based bullying, harassment and assault, but other forms of discrimination, including racism, ableism and transphobia.

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Joint statement of concern regarding suspension of UN Subcommittee on Torture visit to Australia following lack of co-operation in New South Wales and Queensland

We express profound concern that the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has been forced to take the drastic measure of suspending its visit to Australia due to obstruction encountered while attempting to carrying out its mandate during its visit to Australia under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

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Mistreatment in immigration detention under international scrutiny by UN anti-torture body  

The Albanese Government must end the practice of locking people in immigration detention for years on end in dire conditions, human rights experts have told the United Nations, ahead of its investigation of the Australian government’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture treaty. It must also repeal laws that are resulting in record numbers of people being detained.

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Australia’s prisons under scrutiny by United Nations anti-torture watchdog

In a joint submission to the United Nations Committee Against Torture, Change the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre call on the Albanese government to end human rights abuses in prisons and police cells. Mistreatment that can amount to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is too common in prisons and police cells across the country.

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Tasmanian Government’s decision to keep children out of prison welcomed, but government must go further

Australia’s only First Nations justice coalition Change the Record welcomes the Tasmanian Government’s commitment to enact laws ensuring children under the age of 14 years old will not be sent to youth prisons. However, the Coalition urges the Tasmanian Government to fully implement the advice of legal and medical experts and raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old to protect very young children from any harmful engagement with the criminal justice system.

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Case challenging age pension discrimination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people heads to Full Federal Court

The Federal Court has ordered that a case against the Federal Government, seeking fair and equal access to the age pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will be heard by the Full Court of the Federal Court later this year to determine important questions of law.

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