The US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that recognised abortion as a constitutional right, is a devastating blow to the lives of women in America and highlights the need for vigilance in Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre warned today.
Read MoreTasmanians’ right to protest has been undermined with the Rockliff government’s dangerous new anti-protest law passing the second reading phase in the Legislative Council earlier today.
Read MoreForty civil society organisations have expressed alarm at reports of police overreach in preemptive policing of protest, with NSW police conducting covert surveillance and a raid on climate activists north of Sydney on Sunday.
Read MoreLeading Tasmanian and national civil society organisations are urging the Tasmanian Upper House to reject the Rockliff government’s alarming new anti-protest law.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s Kieran Pender has been awarded the Lawyers Weekly Pro Bono/Community Lawyer of the Year.
Read MoreAustralia’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.
Read MoreLong overdue laws that will end the routine strip searching of children in Tasmanian jails passed the Tasmanian Parliament yesterday.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the appointment of Clare O’Neil as the Minister for Home Affairs and Andrew Giles as the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and has called on them to take action to end a decade of cruelty against refugees and people seeking safety.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreHuman rights laws in Victoria, the ACT and Queensland are making concrete improvements to people’s lives, particularly by preventing homelessness and promoting health, according to a new report by the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreA Federal Court case against the federal government, seeking fair and equal access to the Age Pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will return to court today for an interim hearing.
Read MoreEnvironmental Justice Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre are urging the Andrews government to withdraw a draconian proposed new law that would criminalise peaceful protest.
Read MoreAfter almost a decade leading the Human Rights Law Centre, Executive Director Hugh de Kretser will leave the organisation to take up the role of Chief Executive Officer at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the historic truth and justice process for First Peoples in Victoria.
Read MoreAhead of tomorrow’s federal election, the Human Rights Law Centre has set up a register where people can record barriers they face in casting their vote.
Read MoreThe North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Change the Record and the Human Rights Law Centre have slammed the Northern Territory government for passing a law that limits the compensation payable to children and adults who are mistreated and abused while in their care.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Morrison Government to urgently fix the regulations that stand in the way of tens of thousands of Australians with Covid-19 exercising their fundamental democratic right to vote.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has written to the Australian Electoral Commission seeking urgent clarity around the AEC’s interpretation of phone-voting provisions for Covid-19 affected people ahead of Saturday’s federal election.
Read MoreLawyers acting for the parents of murdered Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati have welcomed the settlement last week of civil proceedings brought by former Manus Island guard Chandra Osborne, and called on the Australian Government and G4S to now compensate Mr Berati's family.
Read MoreLeading Tasmanian and national civil society groups are calling on the Rockliff government to halt the introduction of an alarming new anti-protest law, currently before the Tasmanian Parliament.
Read MoreAn alliance of Australia’s most well-established and respected charities today called on all parties to support issues-based charity advocacy in the lead up to elections.
Read MoreOn World Press Freedom Day, the Human Rights Law Centre is calling on both major parties to commit to dropping the ongoing prosecutions of three Australian whistleblowers and reforming whistleblowing laws if elected.
Read MoreAhead of the federal election, 16 community, human rights and religious groups have joined forces to call on all candidates to refrain from misleading voters and commit to reforms to stop the spread of disinformation.
Read MoreThe Australian Capital Territory’s Human Rights Act needs reforming to remove needless barriers that are making it harder for people to protect their human rights, warns the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThe Morrison government must ensure the Australian Human Rights Commission is independent and effective, following revelations that the Commission’s “A status” may be downgraded.
Read MoreWe’re thrilled to announce that Nick Espie has joined the Centre as a Legal Director leading the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rights team, commencing in 2022. Nick is an Arrernte man who has around two decades of legal practice and policy experience working on Aboriginal justice issues.
Read MoreAs Rio Tinto shareholders gather in London this week for the company’s AGM, over in Bougainville, the initial steps on a comprehensive environmental and human rights assessment of the company’s former Panguna mine have commenced.
Read MoreThe passing of the Perrottet government’s new anti-protest law will undermine the ability of everyone in NSW to exercise their freedom to protest, a coalition of environmental, social justice and human rights groups has warned.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the Australian Government's ratification of the International Labour Organisation Forced Labour Protocol, which imposes legally-binding obligations on states to prevent and address forced labour.
Read MoreA coalition of environmental, social justice and human rights groups is urging the Perrottet government to halt its attempts to rush through a draconian anti-protest law, which could see peaceful community protesters jailed for up to two years.
Read MoreAustralia’s family migration system is in urgent need of an overhaul to ensure that families and partners are reunited with efficiency and transparency, a Senate committee has found.
Read MoreLegal experts have slammed the Government’s decision to reintroduce the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill — which has repeatedly been rejected — as a political stunt at the cost of people on visas and their families.
Read MoreThe Morrison Government’s newly announced refugee resettlement deal with New Zealand is a step in the right direction, but fails to account for almost one thousand people still affected by Australia’s offshore detention policies.
Read MoreA Victorian parliamentary inquiry has called for an overhaul of the state's bail laws following its review of the state’s criminal legal system.
Read MoreAn Afghanistan-Australian family, which has waited over four years to be reunited in Australia, has brought a legal challenge against the Morrison Government’s unjustified family visa processing delays.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre stands in solidarity with the family of Kumanjayi Walker and the Yuendumu community today.
Read MoreA letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member States of the United Nations in Geneva and New York from HRLC and other human rights organisations calling for Russia to be suspended from Human Rights Council.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Federal Government to take additional measures to combat forced labour as Australia prepares to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Protocol.
Read MorePeak national justice, child welfare and advocacy groups have joined calls for the Northern Territory Government to stop using spit hoods and restraints on children.
Read MoreThe Morrison Government, with the support of the ALP, last night passed damaging and unnecessary laws in the lower house, that would give the Immigration Minister more power to cancel visas and deport people who live in Australia.
Read MoreThe Morrison Government is again attempting to pass damaging and unnecessary laws that would give the Immigration Minister more power to cancel visas and deport people who live in Australia. It is the third time the Coalition has attempted to pass the laws.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today called on the Morrison government to drop the unjust charges against whistleblower Bernard Collaery and urgently reform Australia’s whistleblower protection laws.
Read MoreA coalition of human rights organisations, church groups and academics are calling on the federal government to strengthen Australia's modern slavery laws after releasing a major new investigative report which found that many companies are failing to identify obvious risks of forced labour in their supply chains or take action to address them.
Read MoreAustralians overwhelmingly support a pathway to permanent residency for migrants who have lived and worked in Australia for several years, according to new research.
Read MoreA damning new report details how the fossil fuels, tobacco and gambling industries use their wealth to manipulate Australia’s democratic processes to put their profits ahead of the wellbeing of Australians.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is urging Parliament to oppose the Morrison Government’s deeply unbalanced Religious Discrimination Bill, which is being introduced into Parliament today.
Read MoreToday, the Andrews Government announced that the City of Yarra, Shepperton, Dandenong and Castlemaine will be the trial site locations where the public health response to public drunkenness will be tested.
Read MoreThe Department of Home Affairs did not follow its own policies and was inconsistent in its approach to family members separated by international travel restrictions, a new audit report has found.
Read MoreChange the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre condemned the Northern Territory Government for the skyrocketing number of children it has criminalised and imprisoned - including a ten year old child.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has urged the federal government to overhaul the legal framework for travel restrictions following the postponement of border changes for people on temporary visas.
Read MoreNew laws that promote reproductive choice and freedom by removing unnecessary legal barriers to abortion in the Northern Territory have been welcomed by the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the release of the Jenkins’ report, which recommends both Houses of Parliament establish “clear and consistent” codes of conduct for MPs and Senators
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is urging members of Victoria’s Legislative Council to support equality for all by passing the Equal Opportunity (Religious Exceptions) Amendment Bill 2021.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed proposed amendments to Victoria’s new pandemic law, which will lead to stronger human rights protections and increased independent oversight of the government’s pandemic response.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations are calling on the Queensland Government to implement measures to prevent human rights abuses behind bars.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the news that the Senate has voted to disallow the Morrison Government’s proposed new anti-charity regulations.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is urging Parliament to oppose the Morrison Government’s deeply unbalanced Religious Discrimination Bill, which is being introduced into Parliament today.
Read MoreMajor new research has identified a clear and alarming trend that sees climate defenders increasingly being targeted and suppressed by Australian governments.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today called on the Morrison Government to ensure its proposed Religious Discrimination Bill protects everyone equally.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has today welcomed the federal government’s announcement that international border restrictions will be lifted for most temporary visa holders.
Read MoreUyghur organisations, human rights groups and trade unions have welcomed the introduction of a Bill which would ban goods produced with forced labour, and called on the Morrison Government to support the legislation.
Read MoreToday marks one year since the release of the Brereton Report into war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. Human rights groups from Afghanistan and Australia have joined forces to reiterate the need for accountability and redress.
Read MoreAlmost a million people in Australia on temporary visas and 10,000 refugees remain in limbo as the Morrison government refuses to detail a complete plan for lifting international travel restrictions.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed proposed amendments to Victoria’s new pandemic legislation, revealed in Parliament today.
Read MoreThe Raise the Age Coalition has condemned the decision of the Meeting of Attorneys-General to develop a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to only 12 years old as inadequate and failing to improve the lives of children and young people.
Read MoreSeven in 10 Australians want more legal protections for whistleblowers and say that whistleblowers make Australia a better place, according to new research by The Australia Institute and the Human Rights Law Centre.
Read MoreThe Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Human Rights Law Centre are calling a proposal made at yesterday’s Meeting of Attorneys General (MAG) to develop a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old, an absolute missed opportunity to look after children.
Read MoreWith Victoria’s current state of emergency set to expire on 16 December 2021 and unable to be extended, the Victorian Government has introduced a proposed new pandemic law.
Read MoreFindings were delivered today in the coronial inquest into the death of 23-year-old refugee Omid Masoumali who was held in offshore detention in Nauru. Queensland State Coroner Terry Ryan found that almost three years without any prospect of safe resettlement had led Omid to despair and frustration. The Coroner called for the Australian Government to provide certainty and expeditious resettlement for the people who still remain in Nauru.
Read MoreThe Morrison government’s proposed laws requiring people provide identification when voting will create new and unnecessary barriers that undermine the right to vote for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people experiencing homelessness.
Read MoreINCLO members support the 6 organisations that have been designated as “terrorist groups” under Israel’s anti-terrorism law and call for the Israeli government to immediately reverse its decision and remove them from the list of terrorist organisations.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Morrison government to provide a complete and inclusive plan for easing travel restrictions that includes residents on temporary visas, their family members and refugees whose resettlement in Australia has been postponed.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today welcomed the announcement of moves to abolish hotel quarantine in NSW and Victoria for vaccinated people who test negative. Last week, the NSW Government announced the abolition of hotel quarantine from 1 November for vaccinated people. Today, the Victorian Government announced a home quarantine trial from 27 October.
Read MoreA coalition of human rights lawyers is calling on the Morrison Government to act urgently to ensure the safety of people held in Park Hotel Alternative Place of Detention amid an escalating COVID-19 outbreak.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre and Digital Rights Watch have written to federal, state and territory health ministers calling for stronger privacy protections in the technology being used to support home quarantine trials.
Read MoreA coalition of human rights, social justice and environment organisations are calling on the Tasmanian Government to abandon its latest attempt to restrict protest rights.
Read MoreAustralia’s state and territory governments are being urged to follow the lead of the ACT, after it today released a new report outlining its roadmap to raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
Read MoreBougainville community leader and MP Theonila Roka Matbob has received the Gwynne Skinner Human Rights Award in recognition of her outstanding work to hold mining giant Rio Tinto to account for the legacy of environmental devastation caused by its former Panguna mine.
Read MoreToday the Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews announced that the Morrison Government will be ending offshore processing in Papua New Guinea by the end of the year, following 8 years of policy failure and harmful treatment of people seeking asylum.
Read MoreThe ACT Court of Appeal has ruled that parts of the ongoing prosecution of Bernard Collaery should be open to the public.
Read MoreThe Tasmanian Government’s proposals to make political donations and election spending more transparent are a step in the right direction, but the new laws do not go far enough. The legislation still leaves Tasmania with the weakest regulation of third-party campaigners, such as industry lobby groups, of any state or territory in Australia.
Read MoreA Federal Court case has been launched against the Morrison Government, seeking fair and equal access to the Age Pension for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s Kieran Pender has jointly taken out one of the ACT Law Society’s most prestigious awards.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling for the immediate introduction of home quarantine programs in NSW and Victoria for people coming from overseas.
Read MoreMore than a dozen members of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations, including the Human Rights Law Centre, have expressed concern about the harassment and threats of prosecution faced by two human rights defenders in Indonesia.
Read MoreDemocracy doesn’t stop in a pandemic, and people’s right to protest is an important part of a healthy democracy.
Read MoreAustralia's journalists and whistleblowers are under increasing threat and urgently need better legal protections, the Human Rights Law Centre has advised in a submission to a Senate inquiry examining free speech and press freedom.
Read MoreThere has been a dramatic increase in support for a Charter of Human Rights compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, new data reveals.
Read MoreIt has been 1,000 days since the Morrison government committed to introduce a federal anti-corruption commission, yet there has been no movement on this reform, which would be a major step forward for democratic accountability and political integrity in Australia.
The Human Rights Law Centre criticised the lack of an open, merit-based process for the appointment of Australia’s newest Human Rights Commissioner. It called on the Morrison government to commit to public, independent merit-based selection processes for Australian Human Rights Commission appointments.
Read MoreRefugees and people seeking asylum held in Australia’s network of immigration detention centres must be immediately released as at least one guard has tested positive for COVID-19.
Read MoreNewly obtained data shows that, over a 7-month period, women in Tasmanian jails were subjected to 841 strip searches. Just 3 items were found as a result of the invasive searches.
Read MoreCommunity Legal Services across Australia have announced their support for the call made by the Afghan Australian Advocacy Network for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to take action for Afghanistan.
Read MoreThe Morrison Government has today rushed through a new law creating sweeping surveillance powers, ignoring crucial recommendations of the bipartisan Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security that stronger safeguards are needed to protect the privacy of all Australians.
Read MoreThe Andrews government should use the inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system as the catalyst to finally end mass imprisonment, the Human Rights Law Centre will argue in its evidence to the inquiry.
Read MoreThe Australian Senate has voted to ban the importation of any goods made with forced labour into Australia.
Read MoreHuman rights, Uyghur organisations and trade unions are calling on the Australian Senate to back legislation banning the importation of goods made with forced labour.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre warns of the human rights risks of mandating vaccines outside of high-risk areas and called for greater focus on supply and voluntary measures.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s (PJCIS) recent report on the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 and called on the Morrison government to significantly amend the Bill in line with the Committee’s recommendations.
Read MoreThe safety and privacy of people seeking reproductive healthcare will now be protected in law across Australia after the Western Australian Parliament passed legislation to create safe access zones around abortion service
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling for the safety and dignity of people seeking abortion care to finally be protected in Western Australia, with the Public Health Amendment (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2021 due to be debated in the WA Legislative Council today.
Read MoreHuman rights lawyers are calling on the Morrison Government to act urgently to ensure the safety of people held in immigration detention centres around Australia, amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Read MoreAustralia faces a looming international deadline to fully implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol – by the end of January 2022 – but no state, territory or Commonwealth government except for Western Australia is on track to meet this deadline.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government must urgently reform its punitive bail laws if it is to meet the justice targets it signed on to in the new Closing the Gap Agreement last year.
Read MoreToday marks one year since Australia’s top legal officers failed to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, despite being handed an expert report overwhelmingly recommending that all states and territories and the federal government change laws to keep children out of prison.
Read MoreThe parents of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati, who died in 2014 after being brutally beaten in an Australian offshore detention centre, have commenced legal action over his death.
Read More12 charities including First Nations, religious and human rights groups have written to three UN Special Rapporteurs requesting urgent intervention to stop new rules being proposed by the Morrison Government which could shut charities down for speaking out.
Read MoreRio Tinto has today publicly committed to fund an independent environmental and human rights impact assessment of its former Panguna mine in Bougainville in response to a human rights complaint filed by Bougainville communities.
Read MoreToday marks eight years since former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that people seeking asylum in Australia by boat would be processed offshore and prevented from settling in Australia.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is urging the Queensland Government to introduce robust new shield laws to protect the identity of journalists’ confidential sources.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has today refused to accept the calls of dozens of countries to stop imprisoning children under the age of 14 years old, and to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
Read MoreThe Australian government has been criticised for failing to accept critical recommendations from a major UN review into its human rights record.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, human rights and civil liberties organisations have called on the Andrews government to take urgent steps to increase transparency and prevent mistreatment behind bars after a new report has highlighted serious weaknesses in disciplinary processes in Victorian prisons.
Read MoreArbitrary and inconsistent rules imposed by the Australian Government are unfairly keeping people separated from their families, the Human Rights Law Centre warned in its submission to an audit of Australia’s COVID-19 international travel restrictions.
Read MoreReflecting on this past week and the looming January 2022 deadline for OPCAT implementation in Victoria, the Andrews Government’s failure to progress implementation of a system of robust, independent detention oversight is incomprehensible.
Read MoreSafe access zones are now one step closer to becoming law in Western Australia after members of the WA Legislative Assembly voted in favour of the Public Health Amendment (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2021 on Thursday.
Read MoreToday the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights will hear evidence into the Morrison Government’s punitive ParentsNext program, which makes life harder for mums with young children.
Read MoreThe Andrews government must take urgent steps to prevent mistreatment and reduce the number of people being funneled into prisons, the Human Rights Law Centre said today, after a new report uncovered serious and systemic wrongdoing in Victoria’s private and public prisons.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has expressed deep concern following the sentencing of Witness K, who blew the whistle by revealing that Australian spies had bugged the cabinet office of Timor-Leste to gain an upper hand in commercial negotiations over natural resources – oil and gas – that sit beneath the Timor Sea in 2004.
Read MoreThe undersigned members of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) join the urgent international call for universal, equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in the context of the stark inequality in the global distribution of the vaccines already produced and ordered.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed a Senate Committee report recommending a ban on the importation of any goods produced with forced labour into Australia.
Read MoreWitness K, the former intelligence officer charged with revealing that Australian spies bugged the cabinet office of Timor-Leste to gain an upper hand in commercial negotiations, will return to court today facing possible jail time.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Berejiklian Government to ban the routine strip searching of young people in NSW prisons following a damning report by the NSW Ombudsman.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed a new report by the Victorian Commissioner for Children and Young People calling for major reform of Victoria’s youth legal system, including raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years without exception.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling for the introduction of legislated minimum standards of openness in Australia’s legal system to prevent trials taking place in secret.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is today calling on the Morrison government to accept New Zealand’s longstanding offer to resettle refugees from Australia’s offshore detention regime.
Read MoreThe dignity of people seeking reproductive health care is a step closer to being protected in Western Australia, with the reintroduction of safe access zone laws into the WA Parliament.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the findings of a Senate inquiry into press freedom and called on the Morrison Government to immediately act on recommendations to better protect whistleblowers and public interest journalism in Australia.
Read MoreThe Australian government’s visa laws are devastating families and keeping parents away from their children for years, a Senate Committee inquiry has been told. The landmark inquiry into the Morrison government’s family migration policies has received evidence from legal experts and people separated from their families, which show a broken system in urgent need of reform.
Read MoreTwenty human rights, environment and health organisations are calling for both major parties to support law reform that would hold politicians to a higher standard of integrity and reduce the distorting influence big industries have in Australian politics.
Read MoreIn an unusual move, 48 organisations have today publicly released their submissions to the Council of Attorneys-General working group on raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia from 10 years old.
Read MoreThe bail reforms introduced in 2018, which were intended to target men who commit violent offences, have in practice impacted women experiencing poverty and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women the most.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) to drop the prosecutions of whistleblowers Bernard Collaery and Witness K, which to date have been shrouded in secrecy. Collaery’s case returns to the ACT Court of Appeal today for a two-day hearing in which Collaery will appeal an order made under the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004 to hold his trial largely behind closed doors.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has slammed punitive new laws passed by the Gunner government in the Northern Territory late last night.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre joined the urgent international call with the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) for universal, equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in the context of the stark inequality in the global distribution of the vaccines already produced and ordered.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has today called on the Morrison Government to bring an end to the detention of a father who is cruelly separated from his wife and child. Overnight, The Project reported on the story of Mehreen, Zijah and three year old Eshal.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has today slammed punitive new laws set to be introduced by the Gunner government in the Northern Territory this week.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has called for new legal safeguards to prevent secret trials following the case of Witness J, an intelligence agent who was prosecuted and jailed in complete secrecy.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Morrison Government to abandon its travel bans and facilitate the safe return home of Australians in India as COVID-19 rates escalate in the country.
Read MoreChildren as young as ten in Tasmania can currently be arrested, strip searched and locked up in prison cells. This is out-of-step with medical evidence, human rights law and international standards, with the median age of criminal responsibility worldwide being 14 years old.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has criticised the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision not to drop the prosecution of whistleblower Richard Boyle, saying that the ongoing saga shows the need to urgently overhaul Australia’s whistleblower protection laws.
Read MoreThe Australian Government has engaged in a strategic, deliberate and coercive campaign to separate refugees from their families and prevent them from reuniting in Australia, a new report by the Human Rights Law Centre reveals.
Read MoreEvidence of mass internments, widespread forced labour and other atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang provide an urgent case for action by the Australian Government to ensure businesses are not complicit in serious human rights abuses, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell a Senate inquiry today.
Read MoreAn armed attack this week on men still held in offshore detention in Papua New Guinea is further evidence that the Morrison Government needs to bring this cruel policy to an end.
Read MoreLast night, the Palaszczuk Government in Queensland passed dangerous new laws that will only serve to trap Queensland children in the criminal legal system.
Read MoreToday marks 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its historic report with over three hundred recommendations to end Black deaths in custody. It is a national shame that in the three decades since, state, territory and Commonwealth governments have failed to implement the majority of those recommendations - and as a result our people are still dying at horrendous rates.
Read MoreAboriginal-led, medical, legal and human rights organisations have today slammed the Morrison Government’s call to de-prioritise raising the age of criminal responsibility across Australia after more than three years of delays and time-wasting.
Read Moreofessor Robynne Quiggin is the new Chair of the Human Rights Law Centre board, taking over from the Honourable Cathy Branson AC QC, who has decided to step down after eight years.
Read MoreToday, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, human rights and civil liberties organisations wrote to the Acting Premier raising concerns about the ongoing use of 14 day quarantine in prisons.
Read MoreHuman rights, Aboriginal, social justice and environment organisations have welcomed the Tasmanian Legislative Council’s commitment to civil liberties with its voting down yesterday of the Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Amendment Bill 2019.
Today the Victorian Government made two announcements celebrating prison construction. It is their sixth media release regarding prison construction works in the last six months and highlights the alarming expansion of the carceral system in Victoria.
Read MoreNew laws proposed by the Queensland Government will entrench children from marginalised backgrounds in the quick sand of the youth legal system.
Read MoreNew online surveillance laws proposed by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton are dangerous, undemocratic and go far beyond what could be considered necessary and proportionate, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell a parliamentary inquiry today.
Read MoreWe are seeking a Senior Lawyer to join our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights team, and a Philanthropy Officer to assist with the management of our fundraising and grant seeking.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre believes there should be a proper, fair, prompt and independent inquiry into the allegations against the Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter.
Read MoreToday, the Federal Government confirmed the Minister for Home Affairs has chartered a flight to return refugees and asylum seekers to offshore detention on Nauru in a worrying development the Time For A Home coalition said highlighted the Government’s continued failure to provide a solution for the people it has held for 8 years.
Read MoreAfter a long campaign by reproductive rights advocates, abortion will finally be decriminalised in South Australia. The Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020 was passed by the South Australian upper house today and will remove many barriers to accessing abortion care in South Australia.
Read MoreThis morning, two refugees recently released from detention in Melbourne and The Time for a Home alliance of 160 organisations and community networks, handed a petition to Labor, Greens and cross bench MPs with 36,923 signatures.
Read MoreAn Open Letter to the UN Security Council and Individual UN Member States
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has expressed alarm about an expansive new law proposed by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton that would give federal police invasive powers to takeover people’s online accounts and monitor online activity.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed a Senate inquiry into Australia’s family migration program as an opportunity to reform a broken system that has been failing families for years. The long overdue investigation will examine the efficacy and fairness of the family visa system, and is expected to highlight systemic problems including massive delays, exorbitant visa costs and discriminatory policies disadvantaging people from refugee backgrounds.
Read MoreToday, historic and long overdue public drunkenness reforms have passed the Victorian Parliament.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the South Australian Parliament’s commitment to people’s health and equality with the passing of long overdue abortion laws that decriminalise abortion, with the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020 passing the Parliament’s lower house by 29 votes to 15 early this morning.
Read MoreFair Agenda and the Human Rights Law Centre have slammed proposed amendments to the South Australian Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020, saying they will undermine compassionate and accessible healthcare.
Read More32 health, legal and community organisations have joined together to launch an open letter calling on members of parliament to be on the right side of history, and vote in support of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020, due to be debated next week.
Read MoreCredible evidence of mass internments, forced labour and other atrocities against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang provide an urgent case for action by the Australian Government to ensure businesses are not profiting from these abuses, the Human Rights Law Centre said this week in a report to a parliamentary committee.
Read MoreCivil society groups have firmly denounced the military coup in Myanmar which has suspended civilian government and effectively returned full power to the military.
Read MoreToday, reforms to decriminalise public drunkenness will be debated in the Victorian Parliament. Victoria is one of only two states in Australia yet to act on the recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 30 years ago to decriminalise public drunkenness.
Read MoreThe release of 15 more refugees from the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre yesterday is welcome news, particularly following the release of 46 people last week and the 1 man resettled in the U.S this week from the Park Hotel.
Read MoreAustralia’s human rights performance was in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appeared before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.
Australia’s human rights performance will be in the spotlight tonight as the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major human rights review that happens every four to five years.
The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed Attorney-General Christian Porter’s announcement that the Federal Government intends to overhaul current whistleblower protection laws and has called on the Government to commit to introducing and consulting on proposed changes early in the new year.
The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed reports that the Morrison Government has released a small number of people who have been held in detention for over seven years.
Leading civil society groups have condemned recommendations from a Coalition-controlled parliamentary committee as weakening the fairness and equality of Australia’s elections.
The Human Rights Law Centre has today welcomed an interim Senate report condemning Rio Tinto’s destruction of a 46,000 year-old Aboriginal site at Juukan Gorge in WA and recommending a suite of measures to improve protection of other significant sites across Australia.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government will today introduce long overdue reforms to decriminalise public drunkenness into the Victorian Parliament.
Read MoreThe Andrews Government has today released the Expert Reference Group’s (ERG’s) report on public drunkenness reform, which recommends decriminalising public drunkenness and the implementation of a public health response.
Read MoreAfghan and Australian human rights organisations have welcomed the release of the report of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan (IGADF) Inquiry, led by Justice Paul Brereton, into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan and have called on the Australian Government to now move swiftly to implement its recommendations and establish a proper redress mechanism for victims.
Read MoreSouth Australia and Western Australia, the only two Australian states yet to fully modernise their abortion laws, have taken crucial steps this year to shore up reproductive rights.
Read MoreReform is needed to ensure politicians put the interests of people, our planet, and future generations before those of big political donors, a Parliamentary Committee will hear today.
Read MoreThe inquest into the death in custody of proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson will continue tomorrow, with its second directions hearing in the Coroners Court of Victoria.
Read MoreThe national Raise the Age coalition of medical, legal, Aboriginal-led and human rights organisations today congratulated the new ACT Labor-Greens Government on its historic commitment to change the law in the ACT and raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
Read MoreResidents of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea have welcomed a decision by the Australian Government to accept a human rights complaint against mining giant Rio Tinto for investigation and conciliation.
Read MoreToday, over 20 Afghan, Australian and international human rights and legal organisations wrote to the Assistant Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, Major General Justice Paul Brereton, urging him to commit to releasing the report of the Inquiry into allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
Read MoreWe’re thrilled to announce that Meena Singh will join us as a Legal Director leading the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rights team.
Ruth Barson, who has led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rights team for the past six years will return next year, after parental leave, to develop and lead our new climate justice work.
Read MoreThe Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has made bi-partisan recommendations for the scaling back of Australia’s controversial metadata retention regime.
Read MoreWe are seeking a Media and Communications Manager to join our team in Melbourne.
This is an exciting new role which will play a key part working within the Public Engagement team to achieve the Human Rights Law Centre’s strategic goals.
Read MoreTwo of Australia’s leading human rights organisations - the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International Australia - are calling on the Gutwein Government to prohibit the routine strip searching of children. The Tasmanian Government is currently considering laws that the two national organisations say miss the mark when it comes to the need to protect children from harm and prohibit routine strip searches.
Read MoreIn a historic week for reproductive rights in Australia, the two states yet to modernise their abortion laws – South Australia and Western Australia – both took important steps to increase women’s access to reproductive healthcare and bring their laws into the 21st Century.
Read MoreA coalition of refugee organisations has condemned the federal government’s decision to slash support to people seeking asylum in the 2020-21 Budget. This decision, they say, puts over 100, 000 people, including around 16, 000 children, at further risk of homelessness and destitution.
Read MoreSenator Jacqui Lambie announced today that she will not support the Federal Government’s bill that would stifle criticism of immigration detention, reduce transparency and cut off crucial support for the people detained.
Read MoreToday 156 Bougainville community members have filed a complaint with the Australian Government against Rio Tinto for environmental and human rights violations caused by its former mine on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Victorian Government to amend proposed legislation currently before the Victorian Parliament to remove controversial powers to detain people based on what they might do.
Read MoreSouth Australian MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of creating safe access zones around abortion clinics, with the Health Care (Safe Access) Amendment Bill passing the lower house of the SA Parliament today.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling on Premier Andrews to ensure greater police accountability following recent concerning incidents of police violence.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today said that human rights scrutiny of Victoria’s curfew was welcome and required.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the removal of Rio Tinto’s CEO, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, head of Corporate Relations Simone Niven and Head of Iron Ore Chris Salisbury following the company’s detonation of a 46,000 year old Aboriginal sacred site in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the compromise reached in the Victorian Parliament to enable the passage of legislation to continue the Victorian Government’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic for a further six months.
Read MoreHuman rights and legal organisations are today calling on Federal Senators to reject new laws that would allow the Morrison Government to stifle criticism of immigration detention, reduce transparency and cut off crucial support for the people detained in immigration detention.
Read MoreHuman rights and legal organisations today welcomed proposals by the Australian Law Reform Commission to strengthen Australia’s corporate criminal laws in relation to human rights abuses committed by Australian companies overseas.
Read MoreA long awaited report from a Parliamentary committee has recognised the need for significant legal changes to protect public interest journalism, however the recommendations don’t go far enough to ensure journalists are not sent to prison for doing their job.
Read MoreThe Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not prosecute two police officers involved in the death of proud Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, despite the Coroner referring the police officers involved in her death for criminal investigation, saying she believed “an indictable offence may have been committed”.
Read MoreWith reports today of nearly 130 young people - some as young as 13 - being locked in their cells indefinitely due to the threat of COVID-19, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling on the Palaszczuk Government to reduce the number of children locked away in Queensland prisons rather than isolating and harming them.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has urged the New South Wales Parliament reject a bill that would create unbalanced protections against religious discrimination.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre’s Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser today gave evidence to the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry covering his personal experience of hotel quarantine and outlining the human rights obligations for the Victorian Government under Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.
Read MoreOn 10 August 2020, the Federal Court ordered the Federal Government to stop detaining a 68 year old man at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation, due to the health risks of COVID-19.
Read MorePrivate security contractors have used excessive force against people in Australian immigration detention centres, a damning new report by the independent detention monitoring body has found.
Read MoreIn response to Premier Andrew’s declaration of a state of disaster in Victoria, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling for strong safeguards to ensure that police powers are exercised fairly and proportionately during the public health crisis.
Read MoreEarlier today, the Federal Court of Australia ordered the Minister for Home Affairs to cease detaining a 68-year-old man with multiple health conditions at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA), to guard against the serious risk of COVID-19 infection.
Read MoreSeveral members of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee have today found that the Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton has failed to justify the need for sweeping new powers that would undermine transparency in immigration detention.
Read MoreReports that the Federal Government will reopen the Christmas Island Detention Centre highlight the failure of the Minister for Home Affairs to appropriately respond to the threat posed byCOVID-19 in immigration detention.
Read MoreThe Morrison Government must act urgently to ensure the safety of people it continues to detain in indefinite offshore detention in Papua New Guinea, with the country’s pandemic chief warning that the COVID-19 outbreak could overwhelm its health system within days.
Read MoreThe Victorian Government is requiring people in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire to wear a face covering or mask when leaving their home to help stop the spread of COVID-19. This explainer seeks to debunk claims that the requirement breaches people’s human rights.
Read MoreAboriginal-led, medical, legal and human rights organisations today condemned State and Territory lawmakers who failed at today’s Council of Attorneys-General meeting to commit to raise the age at which children can be locked away in a prison.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre today responded to misguided claims made over the weekend that the requirement to wear masks in public in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire breached human rights.
Read MoreNew Zealand granting Behrouz Boochani asylum is a strong reminder to the Morrison Government that there is a viable solution to 7 years of failed asylum policy.
Read MoreNext week Australian lawmakers will have a historic opportunity at the Council of Attorneys-General Meeting on Monday 27 July to change laws that currently allow children as young as 10 to be arrested by police, charged with an offence, hauled before a court and locked away in a prison.
Read MoreIn 2021 Australia will have its human rights record assessed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR provides an opportunity for other nations to identify human rights problems in Australia and make recommendations about possible solutions.
Read MorePrime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to cancel the first August Parliamentary sitting period will hinder the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and risks undermining Australians’ trust in our leadership at a crucial time.
Read MoreWith COVID-19 entering a Victorian prison and youth detention centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are demanding the Andrews Government commit to safely reducing the number of people locked away in Victorian prisons.
Read MoreSilent prayer outside abortion clinics can be particularly harmful to women trying to access healthcare. The objects of the Health Care (Safe Access) Amendment Bill 2020 would be completely undermined by an amendment that authorises silent prayer within a health access zone, by allowing anti-abortion activists to invade the privacy and threaten the wellbeing of patients seeking abortion care.
Read MoreThis Sunday, July 19, marks the day in 2013 when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that people seeking asylum, arriving by boat, will never be settled in Australia and would be processed offshore.
Read MoreThe inquest into the death in custody of proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson began today with its first mention in the Coroners Court of Victoria. Veronica was 37 years old when she died.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Committee tasked with investigating the Federal Government's response to COVID-19 that human rights must be at the centre of the Government’s actions, both now and into the future.
Read MoreThe Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the Northern Territory (APO NT), NT Council of Social Services (NTCOSS) and Human Rights Law Centre have joined hundreds of organisations and individuals around Australia in calling for a permanent increase in Jobseeker and other social security payments.
Read MoreA leading infectious diseases specialist says the Federal Government must take immediate action to protect refugees and people seeking asylum detained in crowded immigration detention facilities, after a staff member at the Mantra hotel in Melbourne - which is currently being used as a makeshift detention centre - tested positive for COVID-19.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has two exciting opportunities for Senior Lawyers to join our team. One role is to work in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Rights team and on other strategic focus areas. The other role is in our Democratic Rights and Freedoms team.
Read MoreToday, 35 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations have called on the global Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB), based in the Netherlands, to strip Rio Tinto of its status as a global human rights leader, following the company’s blasting of a 46,000 year old Aboriginal sacred site in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.
Read MoreLegal and human rights groups condemn the heavy-handed, policing response to a public health emergency, rather than the much-needed support communities need to prevent COVID-19 transmission. We stand in solidarity with the 3000 people in hard lockdown.
Read MoreYesterday, the Australian Federal Police referred ABC journalist Dan Oaks, the journalist behind the Afghan Files, to the Commonwealth DPP to consider laying charges. The journalist’s stories, which uncovered alleged war crimes by Australian troops, prompted the AFP to raid the ABC’s headquarters last year, a move which was resoundingly condemned by journalists and the public.
Read MoreA Senate committee will today hear evidence about new laws that would allow the Morrison Government to stifle criticism of immigration detention, and cut off crucial support for the people detained. In a submission to the inquiry, the Human Rights Law Centre called for Parliament to reject the proposed laws.
Read MoreToday the Commonwealth Government is expected to release Closing the Gap justice targets to address the crisis of Aboriginal incarceration that would see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples waiting until 2093 to reach parity with non-Indigenous Australians.
Read MoreA coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, medical and human rights legal experts have today launched a campaign calling on all Australian governments to change laws that can lead to 10 year old kids being sent to prison.
Read MoreToday Western Australia’s Independent Inspector of Custodial Services released an alarming report on the use of routine restraints, such as handcuffs and leg shackles, on people in custody including pregnant women.
Read MoreAs the Federal Government faces further protests outside a makeshift detention centre in Brisbane, the Human Rights Law Centre has called for the Morrison Government to bring an end to its needless punitive detention of refugees.
Read MoreThe Australian Government should support an urgent resolution in the UN Human Rights Council for an independent investigation into systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protest in the US, say Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations.
Read MoreThe Palaszczuk Government is today expected to pass laws to limit political donations and spending in Queensland elections, with new amendments in place to ensure charities will still be able to advocate on issues like family violence, homelessness and protecting the environment.
Read MoreToday seven legal and human rights groups condemned the approach of many Australian governments to recent Black Lives Matter and refugee rights protests, stating it is inconsistent with our democratic rights and freedoms.
Read MoreWA police will no longer have the power to lock up people who cannot pay their fines with the passing of the Fines, Penalties and Infringement Notices Enforcement Amendment Bill 2019.
Read MoreNew laws that would see mobile phones stripped from refugees and people seeking asylum in immigration detention and massively expand invasive search procedures are an unjustified overreach of power, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a Senate Committee.
Read MoreToday Aboriginal and non-Indigenous legal, health and social justice organisations responded to Government claims that they were working on “ambitious” targets; and called for real and decisive action to end Blak deaths in custody.
Read MoreThe rise in racially motivated incidents targeting people from Asian backgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic reinforces the need for the Andrew’s Government to fix Victoria’s anti-hate laws, a Parliamentary committee will be told today.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is united in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations who have long been fighting for an end to police brutality and mass imprisonment, and accountability for deaths in custody.
Read MoreThe safety and dignity of women seeking reproductive health services is a step closer to being protected in South Australia.
Read MoreChange the Record, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the Human Rights Law Centre have welcomed today’s High Court decision confirming that the use of tear gas on children in Don Dale in 2014 was unlawful.
Read MoreChange the Record calls on state, territory and Commonwealth governments to commit to end Aboriginal deaths in custody in the wake of George Floyd’s death in America - which followed two fatal police shootings here in Australia late last year.
Read MoreFourteen members of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) including the Human Rights Law Centre express deep concern over the escalation in police responses to protests in the USA over the past week.
Read MoreA coalition of civil society organisations, unions and academics has called on the Department of Home Affairs to include union and human rights experts in the newly established Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group to ensure workers’ rights and not just the interests of business are at the centre of the Government’s plan to eradicate modern slavery.
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