Why does Australia need a Human Rights Act?
Australia’s laws are failing to prevent the human rights abuses that plague our society.
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Today, people whose rights are abused are left without remedies and are unable to hold their abusers to account.
Australia is the only liberal democracy in the world without a law protecting our human rights.
Because there are no laws protecting those rights if you, or someone you love, suffers a human rights abuse, there’s not much you can do to.
Because we don’t have a Human Rights Act, there are limited avenues available to hold human rights abusers accountable, and there are few remedies available to those who suffer human rights abuses in Australia today.
And because of that, 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.
Remember the Religious Discrimination Bill?
The Morrison government’s Religious Discrimination Bill is an example of how Australia’s patchwork human rights protections is failing to protect people’s human rights.
Australia’s anti-discrimination laws do not protect people from discrimination on the basis of their religious beliefs.
The Morrison government proposed a Religious Discrimination Bill to protect religious people from discrimination.
However, instead of simply protecting religious people from discrimination, they proposed that religious people should be able to discriminate against other people.
The Albanese government has also promised to introduce laws to protect religious people from discrimination. We can’t allow laws that will allow people to discriminate against others, supposedly to protect human rights.
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.
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What would a Human Rights Act do?
A Human Rights Act is a tool people can use to create a better future for themselves and their communities.
Read moreA federal Human Rights Act would benefit all of us
Human rights are the fundamental freedoms and protections that belong to all of us, ensuring everyone is treated equally, justly and with respect. Rights are about being treated, and treating others fairly.
A Human Rights Act is a tool with which you can combat the abuses you and your community are concerned about, and fight for the fundamental rights and freedoms that belong to all of us.
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.
With a Human Rights Act we can hold those in power to account and challenge injustice.
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, and
- 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 already have their own 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 people have used these laws to make concrete improvements to their lives.
Survivor of domestic violence avoids eviction
A single mother in Queensland was threatened with eviction after her ex-partner refused to leave their house. Tenants Queensland helped her draft a letter using the Queensland Human Rights Act, which led to a transfer of tenancy and the housing provider withdrawing the application to terminate her lease.
Education for children seeking asylum
In the ACT, the Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner raised their concern that government policies meant children and young people granted refugee status, and those seeking asylum, were charged for their education while living in Canberra. The Commissioner worked to develop new policies and procedures so that ACT public education is free for children and young people seeking asylum.
Public transport made accessible
When escalators at a train station in Queensland were replaced by steep, inaccessible stairs, one older resident of the community made a human rights complaint using the Act. This led to an agreement that escalators would be installed at the station.
Same-sex couple challenges unfair superannuation
A law that allowed people in same sex relationships could receive certain superannuation benefits if their partner died discriminated against older people in same sex relationships because it didn’t apply retrospectively. A woman used the Victorian Charter asking for the problem to be fixed and in response, the Government introduced changes allowing same sex couples to access the superannuation benefits retrospectively.
These are just a few examples of how A Human Rights Act is used by ordinary people as a tool to challenge injustice.
They’re why, with a federal Human Rights Act, we can create better lives for ourselves and our communities.
CloseThe campaign for a Human Rights Act
The Albanese government must legislate a Human Rights Act so that people everywhere can take action against human rights abuses.
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Australia needs a Human Rights Act now
Here's why Amnesty International Australia thinks now is the time to campaign for a Human Rights Act.
After a decade of inaction, we have an opportunity to ensure our human rights are protected in Australia’s laws, so everyone can enjoy their laws.
First, there is widespread support for a Human Rights Act – 73% of Australians support a Human Rights Act, and only 3% of Australians actually oppose one.
Second, the Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, has publicly expressed his support for Human Rights Acts.
Third, the Albanese government promised in their pre-election policy platform to review the current federal human rights framework (aka the Anti-Discrimination Acts and the Human Rights Commission) and to ”consider whether it could be enhanced through a statutory charter of human rights”.
Amnesty is calling for them to conduct that review as soon as possible.
Over the next few years, we need to raise our collective voices and show Parliamentarians that people in Australia want them to pass laws protecting our human rights.
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.
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Add your voice to the campaign
Together, we can ensure our rights are protected, and we can hold the powerful to account.
Read MoreTake Action Today
When we work together, we can make the world a better place.
The government must legislate a Human Rights Act so that people have the power to take action when their human rights are violated, and can seek remedies for abuses.
Join the campaign and call for a federal 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,
- Email your local MP and let them know you support protecting all our human rights in law, and
- Learn more about why we need a Human Rights Act.
As 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.
With a powerful legacy of over 60 years of human rights advocacy, we have a real opportunity to make a massive difference.
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