Why does Australia need a Human Rights Act?
Human rights are the fundamental freedoms and protections that belong to all of us, and Australia’s current laws are failing to prevent human rights abuses.
Read moreA Human Rights Act is a tool people can use to create a better future for themselves and their communities.
Australia is the only liberal democracy in the world without a Human Rights Act that protects human rights in law.
If you or someone you love suffers a human rights abuse, there’s not much you can do to hold those responsible to account, and there are few legal remedies available. Because of this, powerful people continue to abuse human rights.
Which of our rights are protected?
Australia has Anti-Discrimination laws, but these only protect people’s right to live free from discrimination on the basis of their age, sex, disability, or race.
These laws don’t protect all our rights, including our right to access healthcare, to an education, to a healthy environment, and the rights of children.
What can you do if your rights are abused?
You can complain about an abuse to the Australian Human Rights Commission, and they can investigate.
If that complaint isn’t resolved through a conciliation process, then complaints about discrimination may be taken to court under the Anti-Discrimination Acts. If your complaint involves a right that’s not the right to live free from discrimination, there’s nothing more you can do.
This system is fundamentally flawed, and is failing to prevent human rights abuses from happening.
What would a Human Rights Act do?
A Human Rights Act is a tool with which we can fight for the fundamental rights and freedoms that belong to all of us, and hold those in power to account.
It would mean the rights of all Australians are protected in our laws, and force the federal government to consider those rights in their laws, policies and practices.
A Human Rights Act will:
- Prevent human rights abuses by forcing the government to consider human rights when passing laws, making decisions about policies, and delivering services
- Provide an avenue for people to take action and challenge injustice when their rights are abused
- Provide remedies for people whose rights are abused.
With a Human Rights Act, we can create better lives for ourselves, our communities, and for those around us.
What does that look like?
The ACT, Victoria, and Queensland have their own state-based Human Rights Acts. They’re a good guide for a federal Human Rights Act, and show us how people can use one to challenge injustice and human rights abuses.
Our friends at the Charter of Rights coalition have compiled 101 cases that illustrate how ordinary people have used these laws as a tool to make concrete improvements to their lives.
But without a national Human Rights Act, there is nothing enshrined in law that protects the rights of everyone in Australia.
CloseThe time to protect human rights is now
The housing crisis, robodebt, a broken aged care system... Australia needs a Human Rights Act that protects human rights in law.
Read MoreHousing crisis
Our right to housing isn’t protected in our national laws. That means if you or your family are threatened with unfair eviction, there’s not a lot you can do.
If we had an enforceable right to housing embedded in our laws, we could challenge forced evictions to ensure nobody is left out in the cold.
Robodebt
Nearly 450,000 robo-debts were issued by the Morrison government. Everyday Australians were harassed, paying thousands of dollars under a policy that was never lawful.
If we had a Human Rights Act, the government would have been forced to consider people’s human rights before rolling out robodebt.
Aged care
The horrifying findings of the Aged Care Royal Commission, laid bare the abuses so many older people face. Abuse and neglect. Sexual abuse. The use of chemical restraints.
The recommendation was a new aged care system, based on human rights. But how do you create this system, when our human rights are not even protected in our laws?
Remember the Religious Discrimination Bill?
In 2021, the Morrison government proposed the Religious Discrimination Bill supposedly protecting religious people from discrimination. In reality, it would give religious people the right to discriminate against others.
That Bill threatened LGBTQIA+ people, women, people with disabilities, and even other people of faith, and is a good example of how Australia’s patchwork of human rights protections don’t protect all our rights. Australia’s anti-discrimination laws don’t protect people from discrimination on the basis of their religious beliefs.
A Human Rights Act, by contrast, would protect people against discrimination based on their religious beliefs, but also protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, and women. It would allow rights to be balanced – one group’s rights would not take priority over another.
…It doesn’t have to be like this
Together, we can make Australia a place where human rights are protected, where people can challenge human rights abuses, and where there is justice for those whose rights are abused.
CloseThere's support for a Human Rights Act
The good news is that, after almost a decade of inaction, we have an opportunity to ensure our human rights are protected in Australia's laws.
Read MoreThere is widespread support for a Human Rights Act:
- 73% of Australians support a Human Rights Act, and only 3% of Australians actually oppose one.
- The Albanese government promised in their pre-election policy platform to review the current national human rights framework (i.e. the Anti-Discrimination Acts and the Human Rights Commission) and to consider whether it could be enhanced through a Human Rights Act.
- When the Morrison government tried to pass that Religious Dscrimination Bill in February 2022, a lot of Labor MPs spoke out about the need for a Human Rights Act.
- The Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, has publicly expressed his support for Human Rights Acts.
What’s next?
The government is currently conducting an inquiry into Australia’s human rights framework. This inquiry is crucial, because it is considering whether the Parliament should legislate a Human Rights Act and protect our rights in law.
Amnesty recommends that the Federal Government develop a new National Human Rights Framework that prioritises protecting human rights in domestic law in a Human Rights Act.
Learn more about our submission and help us ensure that everyone’s rights are respected and protected.
CloseWhat Amnesty is calling for
Together, we can pressure the Australian government to adopt a Human Rights Act that forces the federal government to consider human rights.
Read moreA single, national Human Rights Act would benefit all of us. Take action.
We are really close to making a national Human Rights Act a reality.
Right now, the government is seeking the input of individuals, like you, to determine whether to legislate a Human Rights Act. A groundswell of public support is crucial in getting this over the line.
With a powerful legacy of over 60 years of human rights advocacy, a global movement of 10 million people – and 500,000 people in Australia – Amnesty International has the people power to build public support for a Human Rights Act. Our collective voices have a real opportunity to make a massive difference.
Join us in calling for a national Human Rights Act so the government is forced to put human rights first:
- Sign the petition calling on the Albanese government to legislate a Human Rights Act
- Learn more about why we need a Human Rights Act