On 29 November 2024, the Australian Government passed a suite of harsh new migration laws which threaten refugee and migrant communities across Australia. These laws single people out for punishment and harsh treatment based purely on visa status, with no regard for the lives that people have built in Australia.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is working with communities in Bougainville to seek justice for the environmental devastation left by Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine. A major independent investigation, the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment has been released today and confirms what communities have said for decades: they are living with an environmental and human rights disaster.
Read MoreThe equitable briefing policy was developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders across the legal profession. As a human rights organisation, we have a responsibility to help address the fact that the legal profession does not currently reflect the community it serves. Working with counsel who bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds benefits both our clients and the profession as a whole.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre's Whistleblower Project has turned one. Find out about our first year of impact protecting and empowering whistleblowers.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the Albanese Government’s introduction of groundbreaking reforms to reduce widespread migrant worker exploitation.
Read MoreOur right to protest is under threat. That’s why we are launching our new report Protest in Peril.
Read MoreThe South Australian Court of Appeal rejected an appeal brought by tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle. Richard had spoken up about unethical debt recovery practices at the tax office. He has since been vindicated by several independent reviews. The outcome lays bare how our weak laws are failing whistleblowers. There is no public interest in prosecuting people speaking out against injustice and wrongdoing.
Read MoreThe Albanese Government is trying to rush through dangerous new laws that will criminalise and punish people because of their visa status. Thanks to unrelenting community pressure, voting on the Bill has been delayed until at least 24 June.
Read MoreDavid McBride was given a sentence of five years and eight months, with a non-parole period of two years and three months for leaking documents to the ABC which exposed war crimes in Afghanistan.
Read MoreThe High Court allows indefinite detention of people who cannot be forcibly deported - but serious questions remain. The Human Rights Law Centre will not stop fighting to end cruel detention practices until the Albanese Government fixes this flawed system, and finally gives people the chance to rebuild their lives.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is working with communities in Bougainville to seek justice for the environmental devastation left by Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine. Together, we are calling for action so people can live safely on their land again.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre Whistleblower Project supported scientists, doctors, nurses and ecologists to speak out against a proposed petrochemical hub for processing gas planned for Darwin Harbour.
Read MoreOur client, Ned Kelly Emeralds, was granted to leave to intervene in a High Court challenge that will determine whether our government can indefinitely detain people from countries that will not accept their forced return.
Read MoreThe Albanese Government is trying to rush through dangerous new laws that will criminalise and punish people because of their visa status.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to strengthen our modern slavery laws. Our laws need requirements on companies to take action to address modern slavery, and penalties for those that do not. We are advocating for independent oversight through a new Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Read MoreThe Albanese Government must take action to fix its unfair social safety net and address the gap in life expectancy.
Read MoreLast month marked one year since the Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland governments missed the deadline to meet Australia’s obligations to the United Nations anti-torture protocol, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
Read MoreIntergenerational equity should be at the heart of the Australian Government’s decisions around climate. The Duty of Care law would result in fewer coal, oil and gas projects being approved, a faster transition to net zero and a brighter future for Australian children and for humanity.
Read MoreDavid McBride sought to expose grave wrongdoing committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. In November 2023, David went on trial in the Supreme Court in Canberra for blowing the whistle.
Read MoreIn November 2023, the High Court ended this dark chapter when it ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention. This has life-changing consequences for people who have been detained for years without knowing if they will ever be released.
Read MoreThanks to the tireless advocacy of the Day family, public intoxication has been decriminalised in Victoria. People who are identified as intoxicated in public will be supported to go to a safe place, like a sobering up centre, instead of being locked in a police cell under criminal or civil police powers.
Read MoreDisinformation is being used as a powerful weapon to gain public support for regressive movements that want to wind-back human rights. The Human Rights Law Centre is pushing for laws to prevent social media companies from amplifying lies and disinformation designed to distort important political debate.
Read MoreIn September 2023, a landmark milestone for equality and reproductive rights was achieved when the Western Australia Parliament finally passed new health-focused abortion laws that will see abortion removed from the state’s criminal laws.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre is assisting Ned Kelly Emeralds in a series of legal challenges that could see people who have sought safety housed in the community, rather than in oppressive detention centres. Ned won the first appeal in the High Court – an important step to securing his freedom.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has launched the Whistleblower Project, a new initiative to support people who speak out in the public interest.
Read MoreReza Berati was just 23 years old when he was brutally murdered at the Manus Island Detention Centre. Until now, there has been very little justice or accountability. After years of fighting for some measure of justice, Reza’s family have finally settled their claim against the defendants on confidential terms.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre supports all elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart – the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution, Treaty and Truth-telling.
Read MoreVictoria has some of Australia’s most dangerous and discriminatory bail laws that are disproportionately impacting Aboriginal women and women experiencing disadvantage. The Human Rights Law Centre is advocating with partners for the Victorian Government to implement reforms to make Victoria’s bail laws fair.
Read MoreFor almost five years, the Australian government refused to process Abdullah and Fatima’s family visa application, so the Human Rights Law Centre supported the family to challenge the delay in court
Read MoreThe Albanese Government abolished Ministerial Direction 80, a policy which intentionally denied thousands of people fleeing persecution the basic human right to live in safety with their families.
Read MoreEnshrining the right to a healthy environment in law is one way we can hold governments to account for the benefit of future generations. In November 2022, we secured a win when the ACT Government announced that in 2023 they will introduce the right to a healthy environment into the ACT Human Rights Act.
Read MoreIn 2004, the Australian Capital Territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to establish a Human Rights Act. At present, however, people have to take legal action in the complex and expensive Supreme Court, which is out of reach for most people. In 2022, the Human Rights Law Centre called on the Australian Capital Territory to remove these needless barriers from the Act to make it easier for people to uphold their human rights.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has adopted an equitable briefing policy for the new financial year.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has run a competition calling on high school students to write an essay explaining how a Charter of Rights would benefit Australians. The competition aimed to find the best introduction to an Australian Charter of Human Rights.
Read MoreEveryone should be able to access quality education, regardless of their postcode or bank balance. People living in remote and rural areas, First Nations people and children from migrant backgrounds often lack equitable access to education. The Human Rights Law Centre co-hosted a webinar on the right to education with the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion in February 2022.
Read MoreTruth and honest public debate are vital during an election campaign. But experience in Australia and around the world shows that elections are precisely when some candidates and media platforms choose to spread disinformation for their own financial and political gain.
Read MoreWith the next federal election not far away, the Human Rights Law Centre has released a new step-by-step guide to help charities comply with electoral law.
Read MoreThe Human Rights Law Centre has long advocated for comprehensive, fair and effective anti-discrimination laws across Australia. Australia needs stronger protections from discrimination for people of faith, but unfortunately, draft legislation released by the Morrison Government in 2019 contained a number of major flaws and failed to strike the right balance.
Read MoreHuman Rights Law Centre Executive Director, Hugh de Kretser, outlines what 2015 may have in store for human rights in Australia.
Read MoreEdited transcript of keynote address by Hina Jilani - a pioneering human rights lawyer, pro-democracy campaigner, leading activist in Pakistan's women's movement and international champion of human rights - delivered at the Annual Human Rights Dinner.
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