Media Releases

In 2011, the Federal Government introduced a criminal offence of failing to inform Centrelink within 14 days about a change in personal circumstances that could affect an entitlement to welfare payments. 

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) entered into force on 10 May 2013, three months after its tenth ratification.

On 16 April, Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark introduced a bill to abolish suspended sentences for all crimes.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Professor Gillian Triggs takes heart from signs that the new Joint Committee on Human Rights has consolidated its scrutiny function

In late March 2013 the UN Human Rights Council passed a US-backed resolution calling on Sri Lanka to honour the commitments it has previously made to investigate widespread allegations of war crimes during the last months of the civil war in May 2009. The resolution also raised formal concerns about continuing enforced disappearances, human rights abuses and other threats to the rule of law in Sri Lanka including the recent impeachment of the Chief Justice.

Human Rights Watch's Executive Director Kenneth Roth in conversation with the ABC's Waleed Aly discussing major human rights problems across the globe and Australia’s new seat on the UN Security Council.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced on Human Rights Day that Australia will join a global initiative to promote human rights while ensuring the security of mining projects.

The Federal Government is slashing funding for human rights education and rule of law initiatives for short-term political gain.

The 21st session of the Human Rights Council saw some worrying signs of regression, with, however, some notable bright spots. The session saw a number of significant thematic developments. The issue of reprisals had a high profile with the Council’s first ever panel discussion dedicated to the problem. As there will be no resolution on the issue until September 2013, the challenge now is to ensure that action is not shelved, and that concrete steps are taken in the meantime to protect against and respond to reprisals.

Protection from threats to national security and the protection and promotion of human rights are complementary goals according to two recent submissions that the Human Rights Law Centre has made on aspects of Australia’s counter-terrorism laws.

Families resettled by the AusAID-funded Cambodian railway rehabilitation project have filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging that they have suffered serious violations of their human rights as a result of resettlement under the project.

The High Court of Australia has welcomed a new member to its bench – Commonwealth Solicitor General Stephen Gageler SC. Gageler was recently before the High Court arguing the Commonwealth’s case for the plain packaging of cigarettes, a case he won before his new colleagues. Gageler also lead the Commonwealth’s notable loss last year before the High Court in the Malaysia Solution case.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General and Commonwealth Heads of Government must press Sri Lanka to strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law, according to a coalition of leading human rights organisations from around the world.

The Australian Government is considering whether Australia should join the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, an extractives sector initiative that addresses human rights risks associated with the security of companies' operations.

Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities continues to make a real, practical difference in the lives of Victorians, according to the fifth Charter report tabled in Parliament on 19 June. Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Acting Commissioner Karen Toohey said that Rights in focus: 2011 report on the operation of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities highlighted the way the Charter is helping Victorians to realise their rights and to resolve everyday issues that can have a profound effect on their quality of life.

Professor Gillian Triggs, the Dean of Sydney Law School, has been appointed as the new President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. She will replace the Hon Catherine Branson QC, who will step down as President in July 2012. Professor Triggs is a leading international law expert and is highly regarded as an administrator and strategist. The Human Rights Law Centre congratulates Professor Triggs on her appointment to this important position and looks forward to working closely and collaboratively with her to promote and protect human rights in Australia.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, mandated by the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, has recently been established.

The Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth) took effect in January 2012. Among other things, the Act requires that all Bills introduced to either house of Parliament be accompanied by a Statement of Compatibility, setting out an assessment of whether the Bill is compatible with human rights.

Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2012 summarises human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide in 2011. I

Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights will be retained following the tabling of a Baillieu Government statement on its future in parliament today. “The decision to retain the Charter is a victory for evidence-based policy, accountable government and a fair go for all Victorians,” said Phil Lynch, Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre.

A collection of case studies that illustrate the many benefits delivered by Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities has been published by the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC). The HRLC’s Ben Schokman said the 101 case studies – taken from the various submissions made to the Victorian Government’s 2011 Review of the Charter – paint an overwhelming picture of an effective and efficient Charter that delivers tangible benefits to all Victorians.

Ron Merkel QC has been announced as the winner of the prestigious 2011 Human Rights Medal at the Australian Human Rights Commission’s annual Human Rights Awards in Sydney. Meanwhile, a legal team comprising Allens Arthur Robinson, the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, Debbie Mortimer SC and Richard Niall SC were awarded the Human Rights Law Award for their outstanding legal advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers.

The Victorian Government should strengthen existing protections under the Human Rights Charter in the spirit of Human Rights Week, says the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres.

A new Federal government report released on 9 December highlights a number of Australian communities whose human rights are threatened.

At a gathering marking 20 years of the ACT’s anti-discrimination laws, the ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, said he wants to widen the territory’s legal recognition of human rights so it includes economic, social and cultural rights. He said he would encourage his cabinet colleagues to make the ACT a leader again on rights legislation.

The passage of important legislation which requires the Federal Parliament to consider international human rights obligations when passing new laws has been warmly welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre.

The Victorian Government is currently reviewing the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act. This review could result in the Charter being strengthened and streamlined, weakened, or even repealed. The Government position is being coordinated by the Office of the Premier and the Department of Premier and Cabinet. It is likely that a decision on the future of the Charter will be made within Government by December 2011, with a formal Government position announced in March 2012.

Victoria will become the first state in the developed, democratic world to substantially weaken the legal protection of human rights if the recommendations of a parliamentary committee on the future of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights are accepted.

In a landmark decision, the High Court of Australia has upheld the validity, operation and importance of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.

on the operation of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities, entitled Talking Rights, was tabled in Parliament. Each year, the Commission is required to submit a report to parliament which examines the operation of the Charter, including its interactions with other laws, and any declarations of inconsistent interpretation and override declarations.

The review of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities announced by the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert Clark, today is a significant opportunity to improve the promotion and protection of human rights in Victoria says a leading human rights centre.

Loopholes in Australia’s extradition procedures need to be closed to prevent exposing people to human rights violations, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre has recommended. The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department has concluded it consultation process for an exposure draft to update the Extradition Act and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.

The HRLRC recently made submissions on the correct approach to the application of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) in the High Court of Australia.  The appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria in R v Momcilovic (2010) 265 ALR 751, was heard in Canberra on 8–10 February 2011. 

On 10 December 2010, a coalition of over 70 human rights NGOs, community organisations, corporations and religious groups wrote to the new Victorian Attorney-General, the Hon Robert Clark MP, calling on him to strengthen the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act. The signatories wrote that, overall, the Charter has had a positive impact on:

• governmental transparency and accountability;
• legislative and policy development, including by integrating human rights considerations and safeguards into laws and processes; and
• public service delivery and outcomes.

On 2 December 2010, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, wrote to the Hon Robert Clark MP, Attorney-General for Victoria in the new Baillieu Government,  setting out ten policies which the Centre considers the Victorian Government should implement as a matter of priority for a stronger, fairer and safer Victoria.

On 20 October 2010, the Tasmanian Government released a ‘Directions Paper’ proposing a Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities for Tasmania.  The Government is seeking responses to the paper by 14 January 2011. This is your chance to have your say on the promotion and protection of human rights and to learn from and build on Charters of Rights in Victoria and the ACT.

The Endorsement Draft of the NGO Shadow Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is now available.

The report has been prepared over the last 5 months in consultation with a broad range of community organisations and NGOs in Australia and we hope that it will also be supported by even wider range of organisations and individuals. The more support the better. The report will be presented to the UN in August 2010, when Australia formally appears for review.

On 2 June 2010, the Attorney-General introduced the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010, a key element of the Government’s new ‘Human Rights Framework’, in the House of Representatives.

On 21 April 2010, the Attorney-General launched the Federal Government’s response to the National Human Rights Consultation, entitled ‘Australia’s Human Rights Framework. The Government’s Framework fails to implement the key recommendation of the National Human Rights Consultation Report – supported by over 87% of a record 35,000 submissions – that Australia enact a federal Human Rights Act.

On 10 December 2009, the Centre released a paper entitled Human Rights Leadership: Initiatives to Promote Human Rights at Home and Abroad.  The paper, which was provided to the Federal Government in September, proposes 20 initiatives which Australia could take to strengthen a range of normative, preventative and remedial mechanisms to protect human rights at the local, regional and international levels.

Centre Granted Leave to Appear as Amicus Curiae in Victorian Court of Appeal.

On 22 July, the Centre was granted leave to appear and was heard as amicus curiae in the Victorian Court of Appeal in the matter of Momcilovic v R.

The matter concerns the application of the Charter and the interpretation of s 5 of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic), a ‘reverse onus’ provision.