Rights and Freedoms
The five finalists for the 2018 Human Rights Awards’ Law Award have been selected, with two from Western Australia competing for the prize. “We have received the highest number of entries for the Law Award since the Human Rights Awards the awards began in 1987,” said Commission President, Professor...
Commission – General
We can all have our say within the bounds of law Respect is the essence of a civil society. It is the cornerstone of human rights - the "active voice" of dignity that links all the international conventions to which Australia has committed. Respect is tolerance. It is a fundamental basis of our...
Race Discrimination
Federal racial hatred legislation and the complaints-handling processes of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) are currently the subjects of an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee’s ‘Freedom of speech in Australia’ inquiry, due to report by 28...
Rights and Freedoms
Discover how a former Human Rights Commissioner was asked whether the Racial Discrimination Act impinges on freedom of expression under international law.
LGBTIQ+
Imagine seeing the words "never married" on your new husband's death certificate. As if the grief of losing your husband while honeymooning wasn't traumatic enough. Marco Bulmer-Rizzi's husband, David, died after falling down stairs at a friend's place in Adelaide. Because South Australia doesn't...
Race Discrimination
In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...
Rights and Freedoms
To advance human rights we need to promote a culture of respect for everyone exercising their choice and freedoms. On a day-to-day basis, human rights probably appear abstract for most Australians. The term often gets raised in discussion about how we are treating asylum seekers, or when we discuss...
Rights and Freedoms
THE proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act provide the basis for correcting the legal limits of free speech, promoting pluralism, opposing reprehensible racism and highlighting the importance of responsibility. Arguably the most important change is assessing an 18C violation based on...
Rights and Freedoms
Responsibility, anti-discrimination laws, human rights and freedoms - these words have been at the center of an ideological debate about how to protect fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom from detention without trial. But if we are serious about...
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
A comment on the current human rights issues faced by Australia in the processing of refugees and asylum seekers
Rights and Freedoms
Freedom of speech is alive and well in Australia but, with respect to Voltaire, we will not defend to the death those who abuse this right by vilifying others in public on the ground of race.
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