The Report from the National Human Rights Consultation Committee - reflecting the Australian public's overwhelming desire for a Human Rights Act - is available now in pdf or word format. Check out the latest news and views from the Amnesty team and other friends below.

Thank you, the campaign continues...

Jenny Leong, Campaign Coordinator
10 December 2009, 10:12am

Today is the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's also one year since the Attorney General established the National Human Rights Consultation Committee - a Committee charged with the responsibility of seeking the opinions of people in Australia about human rights protection in this country.

As you know, the consultation engaged directly with around 40,000 people through community roundtable meetings across the country (not just in capital cities) and a diverse range of individual and personal submissions.

The submissions showed overwhelming public support for a Human Rights Act for Australia (over 80% of people in favour), and the subsequent Consultation Committee report recommendation that the Government adopt one.

Informed speculation predicted that today - the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a year on from the establishment of the committee - would be the day the Government would respond to the 31 recommendations contained in the report.

Unfortunately, it now seems highly unlikely that this will occur.

So where does this leave us, and our campaign for a Human Rights Act for Australia?

It would be easy at this point to get despondent, but there is a danger in this approach that goes beyond the introduction of a Human Rights Act.

Consultation with community is an important and significant way of ensuring that people are able to participate in the decisions that affect them. However, consultation without action is not enough.

During the consultation people engaged, they participated, and they contributed. The subsequent report reflected these views and made recommendations.

It is now up to the Government to respond and act.

This obligation is even greater given that what happened in the last year was the most extensive public conversation about human rights this country has ever seen - the worst thing the Government could do now is to let the report lie in a drawer.

That's why yesterday we sent the key Government decision makers a 'present' from Amnesty International on behalf of our supporters and all those who support the introduction of a Human Rights Act in Australia.

We were worried the report, its recommendations and the tens of thousands of individual people who engaged with the process were being forgotten - getting buried under climate change debates, leadership contests, invites to end of year parties and family holiday plans.

So we thought we would get the report back on their agenda - with a special delivery.

Wrapped Human Rights Consultation Committee report from Amnesty International for Prime Minister Rudd
A special Christmas Present from Amnesty International for Prime Minister Rudd - the Consultation Committee report

We sent key Government decisions makers their own copy of the National Human Rights Consultation report individually wrapped and with a personalised card. And because the report is 460 pages long and we wanted to be sure that they didn't miss the key bits, we highlighted the key recommendations and findings in support of a Human Rights Act.

These 'presents' are one small way that Amnesty International will continue to work to keep the introduction of a Human Rights Act for Australia on the agenda.

After all, it is these small things that each of us do to contribute to the better protection and promotion of human rights that the Declaration of Human Rights was intended to be all about.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said,

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm. Or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless thee rights have meaning there, they have lieel meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

We won't let the overwhelming support for a Human Rights Act for Australia fall off the agenda - and we know that you wont either.

Thank you for working with us over the past year - I look forward to continuing to work with you in 2010 and beyond.

Happy Human Rights Day. The campaign continues...

Jenny Leong

Why Kevin Rudd should enact a Human Rights Act

Jenny Leong, Campaign Coordinator
23 November 2009, 1:50pm

The Prime Minister has made a commitment to building a stronger Australia, a fairer Australia and to create a nation prepared for the challenges of the future. The protection and promotion of human rights is central to the national interest and underlie each of these initiatives. The National Human Rights Consultation has clearly demonstrated that human rights protection is inadequate in Australia and has recommended a Human Rights Act to better protect and promote human rights.

The Committee found that "three recent developments in law and government policy were repeatedly referred to as giving rise to human rights concerns: the Northern Territory Emergency Response (also known as the Intervention), the treatment of asylum seekers, and national security legislation. Many who participated in the Consultation felt that in these instances a balance between individual liberty and the public interest might not have been struck"(National Human Rights Consultation Report, XIV).

This finding by the Committee was supported by many of the people who made submission to the consultation process through Amnesty International. One example of this is the personal online submission made by ‘Pamela’ who wrote: "I would feel reassured that justice would be afforded to individuals if we had one overarching form of protection to cover all rights. I am concerned that Australia is the only liberal democracy in the world without national human rights protection. I don’t want to just hope or assume that my rights are protected (such as my right to freedom of assembly), I want to know that there is law to back this up and that I have an avenue if my rights are not respected. It is the marginalised in our community who most often suffer human rights abuse. As a democratic society we all bear the responsibility to protect the rights of others. It is my hope that a Human Rights Act would greatly assist in doing this".

This is the chance of a generation to unequivocally commit to protecting the most vulnerable and marginalised members of our community and re-gain Australia’s international standing on human rights protection.

Are you on twitter? Want to tell the Prime Minister you support a Human Rights Act? Tweet ‘Calling on @KevinRuddPM to #ActOnIt and give us a Human Rights Act for Australia’

Time for a stronger human rights culture

Catherine Branson QC, President, Australian Human Rights Commission
28 October 2009, 11:39am

2009 has seen a truly remarkable democratic process unfold in Australia.

The National Human Rights Consultation heard from nearly 40,000 individuals and organisations. It learnt that human rights matter to us as Australians.

This is the greatest participation in a democratic consultation process our country has ever seen. And the majority of those who participated said that they want their human rights better protected - through an Australian Human Rights Act.

Australia stands out from the rest of the western world in that it does not have a national charter of fundamental rights and values. Countries with similar systems of government such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand have a single national law that sets out how human rights should be protected. It is time that Australia joined its friends and enacted a similar law.

Human rights are about respecting the inherent dignity of every person. Respect for human rights will lead to a fairer, more inclusive and more secure Australia.

Everyone in Australia should be equally valued and should be able to live free from discrimination. In particular, children should be protected and their best interests should be considered every time a decision affecting them is made. Older Australians should be treated respectfully whether they are living at home or being cared for elsewhere.

All Australians, where ever they live, should have access to adequate health services, housing and education. People with a disability should have access to the services they need to participate fully in the life of the nation, their community and their family.

These are all human rights issues.

We learnt from the national consultation that Australians do not believe that their human rights are sufficiently protected and promoted at present. This is something that matters to all of us. And not just because in Australia we value a fair go for all. All of us have been young and many of us will one day be old; one in four of us lives with disability; a good number of us live in rural and remote Australia where access to essential services including health care may be poor; significant numbers of us have arrived in this country relatively recently to live, to work or to study and do not always find our culture respected. We know that many of the original inhabitants of this country, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, experience significant social disadvantage.

Our national Constitution was not intended to be a charter of fundamental rights and values. As a consequence our Parliament can make a law that breaches human rights without explaining why it needs to do so.

Government decision-makers can disregard a person’s human rights and that person may not be able to do anything about it. There is no single place in Australian law where people can find a clear statement of the rights which are recognised by that law.

We can do better. In countries that have a national law protecting human rights there have been concrete improvements to the lives of vulnerable people.

A good system of human rights protection involves consideration of human rights at all levels, and by all branches of government, with the aim of preventing human rights violations. It also involves giving people whose human rights are breached without legal justification the ability to do something about it.

In short, we need our Parliament to consider the human rights implications of all new laws. We need our Government’s decision-makers to respect human rights when implementing laws, developing policy and delivering public services.

We need our courts to consider human rights when making decisions. We need individuals to have the right to challenge government decisions which breach their human rights. And we need all people in Australia to be more aware of their human rights and their responsibility to respect the rights of others.

A stronger human rights culture will build respect for the human dignity, freedom and equality of all people in Australia. Our government should listen to the majority who told the National Human Rights Consultation that they want their rights protected through a national human rights law.

It is time that Australia joined the rest of the western world and protected human rights through a national Human Rights Act.

Catherine Branson QC
President
Australian Human Rights Commission

This material was originally provided to Australia 21 regarding the next big question for Australia.

Surprise! Not all Christians think the same way about human rights

Rev. Elenie Poulos, National Director, UnitingJustice Australia, (policy and advocacy unit of the national Assembly, Uniting Church in Australia)
27 October 2009, 10:29am

Get Adobe Flash playerFather Frank Brennan, Consultation Chair, addresses the contribution of Christian denominations to the Consultation and their support for a Human Rights Act.

The Uniting Church in Australia has welcomed the recommendation of the National Human Rights Consultation Committee for a Human Rights Act.

While recent statements made by some church leaders give the impression that the Uniting Church is alone in this, the submissions to the Brennan inquiry tell a different story. We are a diverse bunch! The General Synod of the Anglican Church stated its support for human rights legislation, as did the Quakers. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference reserved its opinion and many church-based service agencies spoke about the need for better human rights protections.

Some religious leaders are concerned that a national Human Rights Act will undermine freedom of religion in Australia. On the contrary, we now have a great opportunity to enshrine, for the first time, the right to freedom of religion in Commonwealth legislation.

The Uniting Church is not afraid of the consequences for its own life - it is privileged enough to be able to negotiate for itself what matters to its future wellbeing. There is ample evidence also, that the Government understands the vital contribution that religious organisations make to the health and wellbeing of our society.

Australia is a secular democratic state with a diverse multi-faith society. While the Uniting Church remains immovably committed to the message and mission of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it does not presume to be a moral arbiter of society, nor does it believe it always gets it right.

Together with many others in the Uniting Church, I believe that we must make a case for its values and principles, just as other groups and institutions have to, because this is what it means to live in a country with a healthy civil society. Together we must decide how to express such universal values as compassion, respect, justice and equity, in law and public policy.

Should the Rudd Government commit to implementing the recommendations of the Brennan Report for a Human Rights Act, and I hope that they will, the Uniting Church will be advocating for strong recognition of and protections for religious freedom. But most of all, it will be seeking the best possible protections for those all too often trampled by public policy that does not heed their needs or understand their circumstances.

Rev. Elenie Poulos
National Director
UnitingJustice Australia

Opinion by Claire Mallinson

Freedom of expression has always been a core part of Amnesty International’s work and is closely linked to the right to hold opinions and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

That’s why it was surprising and disappointing that some recent media coverage disregarded the input of the more than 10,000 people who made submissions to the National Human Rights Consultation Committee through Amnesty International.

Over a period of eight months, the Consultation Committee conducted 66 community roundtables in 52 locations, asking people what they think about the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia.

The 35,014 individual submissions represent one of the most extensive responses to a government inquiry or consultation in this country.

Of the 33,356 submissions that addressed the option of a Human Rights Act or Charter, 29,153 were in favour of this option. The National Human Rights Consultation Committee has now recommended the government adopt a federal Human Rights Act.

Throughout the Consultation, Amnesty International encouraged as many people as possible to participate in the process. We collected submissions in a range of forms - online, handwritten on postcards, submission forms and petitions at community events, street stalls, forums, festivals, and fetes throughout Australia.

We received submissions from a wide range of people across the country including plumbers, nurses, church ministers, marine biologists, artists, psychologists, accountants, stay-at-home mums, company directors, journalists, geophysicists, travel consultants, photographers, medical practitioners, builders, filmmakers, job seekers, designers, and pensioners as well as members of trade unions, RSL clubs, Landcare groups, Rotary and Lions Clubs.

It was fantastic to see how interested not only Amnesty International supporters were in this process, but the broader public as well. The process clearly dispelled once and for all the myth that only lawyers and academics are interested in human rights.

Support for stronger rights protections was also reflected in an opinion poll commissioned by Amnesty International and conducted by Nielsen in February of this year. It found that 81 per cent of people polled supported the introduction of a law to protect human rights in Australia. Of those, 85 per cent believed it should be a high or very high priority for the government. This majority support was reflected in the opinion poll the Committee itself conducted

Leaving the numbers aside, it is extraordinary that some commentators are suggesting that some submissions are more equal than others. The value of a contribution should not be determined by its length or who it is from. It is inherently valuable because somebody has taken the time to express their view.

Instead of belittling the thousands of individuals who shared their personal views about protecting and promoting human rights in Australia we should be celebrating the fact that they participated, and that they placed their trust in our democratic processes.

It is not possible in this limited space to reproduce all of the individual contributions made to the Committee, but I would like to quote just two. Nabib in Coffs Harbour wrote, “I don't want to just hope or assume that my rights are protected, I want to know that there is a law to back this up and that I have an avenue if my rights are not respected”. Michael from South Gippsland wrote, "Adopt the human rights act, weave it into the fabric of our society across the land, stand by it and promote it. Let us set an example for the whole world."

Australia is known as the Lucky Country, but according to the Consultation Committee, 10 per cent of those surveyed reported that they had had their rights infringed. The Government showed real leadership when it established the Committee and initiated this consultation process. The overwhelming support for a Human Rights Act could not be ignored by the Committee. A Human Rights Act is a positive step towards making sure people not only have the right to free speech protected, but all of our rights and freedoms.

Human rights - the next step

Lizzie Simpson, Solicitor, Public Interest Advocacy Centre
14 October 2009, 4:03pm

The release by the Federal Attorney General of a report recommending that Australia enact a Human Rights Act was anxiously awaited and gladly received.

The recommendation comes from the National Human Rights Consultation Committee, chaired by Father Frank Brennan and set up in December 2008. The committee’s brief was to talk to Australians about whether they believed that their human rights were adequately protected and, if not, what better protections that they wanted to see.

A number of community forums took place as part of the committee’s consultations. I participated in some of these forums, meeting with homeless people, elderly people, community workers and young people. Instead of speaking for these people, we wanted to ensure these individuals could engage directly with the consultation. In the process, the forums became a kind of two-way street, with participants offering insights and practical solutions to some long-standing problems.

Based on what I heard during these consultations, it comes as no surprise to me that the message of the Brennan report is that most Australians believe that we could and should do better on the question of human rights.

Enacting a Human Rights Act would provide a framework within which government departments and other public agencies would operate. This would improve government accountability because it would provide Australians with a clear statement or standards by which to determine whether the government is operating fairly and without discrimination.

However, I believe that the need to do better is not just the responsibility of the Australian government, but also of the community.

It may sound cliché to say that there are many groups of vulnerable Australians who fall through the cracks, but the truth is there is nothing clichéd about the stories and experiences of such people.

When you hear stories told by homeless people or other marginalised individuals you quickly become aware of two fundamental things. First, the people who fall through the cracks are not so different from the lucky ones who don’t. It is frighteningly easy - especially in the current economic climate - to lose your home and end up on the streets. And it is depressingly hard to get back on your feet, especially when you are made to feel like you don’t have any rights. Secondly, when significant numbers of Australians fall through the cracks, we miss out on the contribution these individuals could make to our community.

I believe we should support a Human Rights Act because it would provide individuals with a tool to enforce their human rights. This would be true whether the legislation is used as an advocacy tool to negotiate directly with a public agency to get a better outcome for an individual, or in legal proceedings to seek a remedy for someone whose rights have been denied.

However, we are a long way off realising the benefits of a Human Rights Act as we now have to wait and see if the Federal Government will adopt the recommendations of the Brennan report. Furthermore, while the majority of people who made a submission to the Brennan Committee supported a Human Rights Act, it needs a lot more support from the community.

So not only do I urge the Federal Government to enact a Human Rights Act; I urge every Australian to support a Human Rights Act by writing to the Prime Minister or your local Member of Parliament to let them know that you support this step forward.

Lizzie Simpson
Solicitor
Public Interest Advocacy Centre

Uniting Church supports a Human Rights Act

Alistair Macrae, President, Uniting Church in Australia
13 October 2009, 10:32am

The Uniting Church supports human rights, and we are proud of doing so. We believe as Christians, we are called to consider the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised, and for all those left behind in Australia’s increasingly prosperous society. Recognition of human rights is an affirmation of the dignity of all people, and our commitment to upholding human rights and working for the eradication of injustice, poverty and racism is integral to our faith and its expression in the world.

The results of the National Human Rights Consultation showed that human rights are not an abstract legal concept, but are real and relevant for many, many people around Australia. There is no doubt that most of us can say that Australia has done well in protecting and upholding human rights but we can and must commit to doing better.

Members of the Uniting Church have witnessed first hand the effects of Australia’s "patchwork quilt" of human rights protections and what happens to those who fall between the cracks.

They have seen the effects of Australia’s dehumanizing detention centres on already damaged souls. Members of the Church in our Northern Synod have expressed their confusion, pain and despair caused by the arbitrary imposition of the Northern Territory Intervention policies which violate their human rights. And we have watched our partner churches in Asia and the Pacific face enormous difficulties in freely practicing their religion, in the absence of protection for the right to religious expression.

A Human Rights Act will not be a silver bullet, but it could provide an important tool to help us to identify where the actions of government are not serving to uphold the dignity of all people, and help ensure that all people are respected and treated equally. Governments will not be forced by judges to change public policy but they will need to explain the reasons for any policy which seeks to over-ride the human rights of any group of people.

The Church acknowledges that it has played a role in the abuse of human rights. In 2006, the National Assembly of the Uniting Church adopted its statement on human rights Dignity in Humanity: Recognising Christ in Every Person. In this statement, the Church confesses that throughout its history it has perpetrated violence and abused human rights through action, inaction, complicity and collusion. We are committed, however, to working for justice and better human rights protection as we continue to reflect on our actions.

The Uniting Church will continue to push for a Human Rights Act, and for government policy and practice which better upholds and protects the basic rights and freedoms to which Australia has committed internationally. No person should be treated as a second class citizen in a country so deeply committed to "a fair go for all". Relative to many countries, Australia’s human rights record is quite good. However from the perspective of the most vulnerable groups in our community, including indigenous people, asylum seekers and people with disabilities, there will be great potential benefits from a clear, coherent and accessible articulation of the basic human rights most of us take for granted.

Alistair Macrae
President
Uniting Church in Australia

The Human Rights Act marathon - passing the halfway mark

Susan Ryan AO, Chair, Australian Human Rights Group
12 October 2009, 3:19pm

Now that the Brennan consultation panel has confounded critics, put the lie to stupid rumours, and done their government determined task faithfully and well, an innocent bystander might think that Australia's Human Rights Act is just around the corner.

Why wouldn't it be? Genuine concerns around constitutional issues raised by the proposed human rights act have been authoritatively settled. The need for an Act is overwhelmingly established by the people who spoke to the panel. The size and diversity of the response - over 35,000 submissions from Australians from all backgrounds - should kill dead the false claim that this was an exercise of "the elites".

But we are only half way there. The Rudd Government will now consider this substantial report, especially, the proposed new law, the essential foundation for progress. Education and parliamentary committees will not deliver benefits without statutory back up. Hugely busy MPs need a law to keep them on track monitoring human rights and preventing violations by checking laws before they are passed. Courts need clear guidance from parliament as to how to interpret the human rights aspects of matters that come before them.

All of this is underway. At the same time, those who cling in the face of facts to the weird notion that a law protecting the rights of the vulnerable against state abuse is somehow a plot against democracy continue to rant. It is as if none of the evidence published by Brennan existed. They will not give up their comfort blanket of pretending that Brennan or someone else wants an Australian version of the US constitutional Bill of Rights. No one does. But to help inform the community and our elected representatives about what we do want, how it would work and who would benefit, we must continue our advocacy.

The vulnerable among us will live in more dignity when we have a Human Rights Act. Just as well we have so many on our side. They will be cheering at the end of the race.

Susan Ryan AO
Chair
Australian Human Rights Group

460 pages of human rights - what a weekend

Jenny Leong, Campaign Coordinator
9 October 2009, 4:39pm

Father Frank Brennan and Attorney General Robert McClelland holding copies of the Human Rights Committee report at the report launch on 8 October 2009
Father Frank Brennan and Attorney General Robert McClelland at the report launch on 8 October

I wrote in my first blog that I really wanted to see a copy of the national human rights consultation report, well I am pleased to say that I now have one - it is also available online for you to download in bite sized chunks from the consultation website.

In brief, our initial response is:

  • we welcome the release of the report and the recommendation for a Human Rights Act
  • we urge the Attorney General to act on the recommendation for a Human Rights Act, and
  • we express concern that economic, social and cultural rights play second fiddle to civil and political rights.

Please read our media statement in response to the report release.

I will be reading the report in full over the weekend and promise a more detailed analysis of the good, the bad and the ugly - as well as what the next steps in the campaign to get a Human Rights Act for Australia are - in my next blog on Monday.

In the meantime, please be sure to spread the word about exciting progress made this week for human rights by joining us on twitter or facebook and sharing or tweeting the news to your friends.

Let's act on it

Lucy, former Amnesty International Australia intern on the Human Rights Act campaign
9 October 2009, 1:00pm

Earlier this year, I worked as a volunteer with the Human Rights Act campaign team at Amnesty's office in Sydney. I spent a month studying submissions, listening to speeches and interviewing delegates at the National Human Rights Consultation public hearings.

In those four weeks, I learnt a lot about what Australians think about human rights, and the thing that struck me the most was that it wasn't just lawyers, academics and activists who were calling for a Human Rights Act. It was also ordinary Australians - people who had witnessed or directly experienced terrible human rights violations in our so-called "Lucky Country". Their personal stories were heartbreaking, and it was devastating to think that these violations were happening in my own backyard. But it was also wonderful to see just how passionate Australians were about human rights, and how committed ordinary people were to making sure these sorts of violations can never happen again.

The National Human Rights Consultation felt like a pivotal moment - the moment when we would finally become a nation that takes human rights seriously. I felt like I was part of something really special, that this was an event I'd look back on as a milestone in Australia's history.

The Consultation Committee's report is a tribute to all of the ordinary Australians who made the call for better human rights protection, who said loud and clear that we want a Human Rights Act which will protect the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of all people in Australia.

We've never had a better chance to get our Act together. It's a chance we can't pass up - let's act on it!

"Yes we can!"

Prabha Nandagopal, secondee lawyer for Amensty International and the Human Rights Law Resource Centre (www.hrlrc.org.au)
8 October 2009, 4:00pm

For the past four months I have been privileged to assist Amnesty International and the Australian Human Rights Group with their Human Rights Act campaign.

This morning, while sitting in Victoria's Parliament House patiently waiting for Frank Brennan to give his nod of approval for a human rights act, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride to be part of this historical process, and importantly to be Australian.

Over the years I have become increasingly detached from the Australian identity I once embraced, after witnessing first hand the destructive consequences of particular government policies that spat in the face of fundamental human rights.

After receiving the long awaited nod from Frank Brennan that his committee had recommended Australia adopt a federal Human Rights Act I was engulfed with a sense of hope, that we as a society have taken a significant, historic step forward, from a decade forever marred with human rights violations.

I realise this may be difficult to believe (it certainly was for me), but I genuinely felt deja vu from the wee early hours on 20 January 2009 when Barrack Obama was elected as President!

Over the afternoon I have only had a brief glance at the 500 page report. So far I am elated with the strong recommendations, most notably in relation to a Human Rights Act, but also in relation to the recognition of the importance of human rights education.

I am concerned about the distinction made between economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights given that human rights are indivisible and interdependent. The Committee has engaged in a false dichotomy through recommendation 22 that provides that under a Human Rights Act economic , social and cultural rights should not be justiciable.

Similarly, recommendation 28 provides that any interpretive provision should not apply to economic, social and cultural rights and recommendation 30 provides that these rights not apply to Commonwealth public authorities.

These recommendations unfairly prioritises civil and political rights over economic, social and cultural rights thereby undermining the universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated nature of human rights.

I look forward some quality bed time reading tonight with my bound copy of the Committee's Report.

Let's see the report!

Emily Howie, senior lawyer with the Human Rights Law Resource Centre (www.hrlrc.org.au)
8 October 2009, 9:00am

Today we're hosting the big event at Queens Hall, at Victoria’s Parliament House, to launch the Human Rights Consultation Committee's report on the state of human rights in Australia.

The Human Rights Law Resource Centre was contacted a few weeks ago and was asked to arrange an event at which the federal Attorney-General and Father Frank Brennan would speak on the National Human Rights Consultation. At the time we hoped (dared to dream) that the Consultation Committee’s report would be released at the event. At 5pm yesterday a press release confirmed that our Attorney-General, Robert McLelland will release the Consultation Committee's report today.

It's a big day for all of us in the campaign for a human rights act, and the culmination of a lot of work on a long run campaign. We are expecting 140 guests from across government, the NGO sector, academia and other interested members of the community. The media has also been briefed on the issue and are expected to be very interested in the recommendations contained in the report.

The Human Rights Law Resource Centre hopes that the Consultation Committee’s report recommends that Australia enact a comprehensive national Human Rights Act to properly protect and promote human rights in this country. We have campaigned strongly for the human rights act to protect all civil and political, as well as economic, social and cultural rights.

But a human rights act alone cannot bring about the change we need. We hope that the report recommends a range of other measures to protect human rights in Australia, including strengthening the role and powers of the Australian Human Rights Commission, enhancing human rights education, proactively addressing discrimination, and promoting the human rights responsibilities of business.

And then we really hope that the Australian government accepts the recommendations and moves to properly protect the human rights of all people in Australia.

But first things first, let’s see the report!

500 pages, but what of an Act?

Jenny Leong, Campaign Coordinator
7 October 2009, 9:53am

Last Friday I attended the 'Protecting Human Rights' conference at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Two members of the National Human Rights Consultation Committee addressed the conference - Mary Kostakidis and Chair, Frank Brennan.

Mary Kostakidis spoke in the morning and gave a great summary of the extensive process the consultation committee had undertaken to seek out the views of people in Australia. The process received the largest response ever to a consultation in Australia with over 35,000 submissions and around 6,000 people attending community roundtables in 60 locations. In addition to this the Consultation Committee undertook focus groups, telephone surveys and a cost benefit analysis.

Frank Brennan delivered the closing address of the conference and outlined in broad terms the structure of the report - which he disclosed comes to a massive 500 pages.

Unfortunately neither Father Brennan nor mary Kostakidis gave an indication as to whether the committee makes a recommendation for the introduction of a Human Rights Act for Australia - to find out that information we will have to wait until the Attorney General releases the report publicly. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join our facebook page to hear the news when it breaks.

In the meantime, why not ask the Attorney General what is in the report and if we can have a copy? You can do this via #ActOnIt on twitter or by commenting at the bottom of this page.

Report released - can we have a copy please?

Jenny Leong, Campaign Coordinator
30 September 2009, 4:45pm

Today the Attorney General, Robert McClelland, announced to Australia that he has received the National Human Rights Consultation Committee's report.

He also confirmed something that we already suspected - that this has been "the most extensive consultation on human rights issues in Australia's history".

More than 35,000 submissions were received from Australians around the country, in addition to the extensive community roundtables held throughout every state and territory and the three days of public hearings held in Canberra in July.

Over 10,000 of these individual submissions were made through Amnesty International's campaign calling for a Human Rights Act for Australia. We joined together at music festivals, community stalls and public events calling for the better protection and promotion of human rights through a Human Rights Act. We worked with a range of other organisations who care about human rights through the Australian Human Rights Group to make our call for a Human Rights Act loud and clear.

These views, from people across the country, have been turned into a report by Frank Brennan, Mary Kostikidas and the National Human Rights Consultation Committee.

This report is now in the hands of the Attorney General Robert McClelland.

But what does it say? What does it recommend?

Robert McClelland said in the statement that "The Government will release the Consultation Committee's report and outline a formal response in the coming months".

We don't know if we can wait that long.

After the months of consultation, of enthusiastic campaigning for a Human Rights Act for Australia we are keen to see the result.

Mr McClelland, 'can we have a copy please?'