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The low rate of employment of people with disability in the Australian Public Service (APS) is unsatisfactory in terms of the government’s broader objectives, and from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s perspective in terms of the right to work of people with disability. The Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) sees the wider use of accessible Information and Communications…

Not For Service: Experiences of Injustice and Despair in Mental Health Care in Australia is the most significant report on mental health care in Australia for over a decade. In 1992 all Australian Governments initiated the National Mental Health Strategy to correct decades of neglect and assure the rights of people with mental illness. In 1993, the Australian Human Rights Commission's National…

This document provides an overview of the Commission’s major activities for 2012-13. The Commission regularly reviews the ways in which human rights are being observed and respected across Australia. We do this to determine where we can take practical action and make a positive difference.

In response to ongoing community criticism of experiences of care, in 2004, the Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) and the Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI, University of Sydney), in association with HREOC initiated a new national review – the subject of this report. The goal of this review was to capture the current critical themes in mental health care from the perspective of…

Important High Court cases on freedom of expression Two sets of decisions issued last week by the High Court of Australia highlight the need for continuing discussion of options for improved legislative frameworks to protect freedom of expression and other human rights. In Attorney-General for South Australia v Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Orsa majority of the Court upheld a local…

Every three years we are required under our legislation to prepare a new Strategic Plan. We treat this as an opportunity to reflect on our effectiveness in undertaking our functions and duties, and to identify how we can ensure that our future work will result in tangible improvements in human rights for people in Australia.

On 15 June 1988 the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released the Toomelah Report, containing the results of its inquiry into the social and material needs of Aborigines in the New South Wales/Queensland border towns of Toomelah and Boggabilla. The Commission undertook at the time to review progress on the implementation of the Recommendations six months after its release.

The Commission recognises the importance of effective border management and recognises that Australia has a right as a sovereign State to exclude non-citizens from its territory. However, Australia also has international obligations in relation to asylum seekers who come here, including those who arrive by boat, which must be observed in its border management practices. This paper provides a…

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) report on the use of community arrangements for asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons who have arrived to Australia by boat.

Human rights issues raised by the transfer of asylum seekers to third countries’ sets out the Australian Human Rights Commission’s position in relation to steps taken recently by the Australian Government to transfer asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat to third countries for the processing of their claims for protection.