Submission to 2025-26 Federal Budget consultation
Working in partnership with people and communities, the Human Rights Law Centre challenges Australian laws and policies which stand in the way of justice and equity for all.
We work across a range of issues which have implications for the 2025-2026 budget process, including campaigning for a federal Human Rights Act, migration justice, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights, dignity for people in prison, protecting democratic freedoms, whistleblower protections and preventing modern slavery.
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling for policies which would put human rights at the heart of government policies and budgeting, and significantly improve the dignity, equality and fair access to justice of all people in Australia no matter where they live or who they are.
Read the Human Rights Law Centre’s submission to the 2025-26 Federal Budget consultation here
The Human Rights Law Centre recommends that the Federal Government should:
Implement in full the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights suggested action 2.23 in its Scrutiny Report 8 of 2023 on statements of compatibility with human rights;
Ensure funding to fully resource the implementation of all recommendations in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework final report, including recommendation 1 on establishing a Human Rights Act, recommendation 5 on human rights education, recommendation 8 on public service human rights training, and recommendation 7 on ensuring effective and sustainable funding for the Australian Human Rights Commission;
Increase funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, including proper resourcing to run and expand legal assistance relating to children and young people, people at risk of imprisonment, people in prison and family violence, guided by service mapping and regular surveys of all unmet legal need;
Provide appropriate funding for specialised legal assistance for temporary migrants:
including (but not limited to) services to support access to ‘visa protections’ for temporary migrant workers;
to be allocated amongst community legal centres and Migrant Workers Centres, established in each state and territory;
Provide dedicated funding for legal assistance for migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum, including funding for specialist migration and refugee community legal centres;
Provide dedicated funding for legal assistance for whistleblowers;
Properly fund the establishment of robust National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) in every state and territory as required by Australia’s obligations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT);
Increase funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations, including to support children and young people with unmet needs and provide health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison;
Increase funding for access to health and disability supports in prison, focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations;
Allocate funding to lower the age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access the Age Pension;
Resource the Australian Electoral Commission to fund programs that remove barriers to voting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – particularly those living on homelands, people with disability, and people in prisons. This should include expanding mobile polling services, ensuring full accessibility of voting infrastructure, providing culturally safe and language-accessible resources, and conducting targeted outreach to uphold the right to vote for all eligible voters;
Expand the current budget for the office of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner to ensure it can carry out its functions effectively and meet stakeholder expectations;
Provide appropriate funding for the establishment of an independent Whistleblower Protection Authority (WPA) to oversee and enforce federal whistleblower protections and for the provision of support to whistleblowers and other agencies with respect to whistleblowing disclosures.