The dark, secret walls of prisons create an environment where mistreatment is rife.

26 January is not a day to celebrate.

Transparency in government requires more than laws and shiny new institutions. It needs real courage and leadership.

Governments must not give into their demands for profit at the expense of our planet, and our right to speak up.  This is why we have released our Declaration of Our Right to Protest.  The Declaration calls for governments across Australia to adhere to international standards and human rights law to protect protest rights.

We need to step back and ask ourselves: How did we get to this point, where both sides of parliament talk openly of flouting High Court judgments and subjecting migrants and refugees to lifelong punishment based solely on their legal status? And we need to ask ourselves: Who will be next?

In Australia, as we’re seeing across the globe, disinformation is being used as a powerful weapon by far-right groups to gain public support for regressive movements that want to wind back human rights.

David 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.

In 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.

Thanks 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.

Disinformation 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.

Two years ago yesterday, the ACT Court of Appeal handed down a landmark judgment in defence of truth and transparency in our democracy. There's one problem: to this day it remains secret.

In 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.