A Human Rights Act for Australia

A 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.

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.
• 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.