Strengthening the ACT Human Rights Act

NEWS UPDATE | Charters of Human Rights

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In 2004, the Australian Capital Territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to establish a Human Rights Act to legally protect many of the critical human rights we need to live a decent, dignified life.  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. We provided a submission to an inquiry reviewing remedies available under the Act. The submission, No Rights without Remedy, called for an accessible remedies process in which complaints can be made directly to the ACT Human Rights Commission, and if unresolved, escalated to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.  This would be in addition to the existing process available in the ACT Supreme Court.  

In October 2022, we secured a win, with the ACT Government announcing in-principle support for the recommendations. They will commence work in 2023 to amend the Human Rights Act to allow complaints to be made to the Human Rights Commission.