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Rights and Freedoms
30 October 2024News story
COVID Review a good start, but human toll must be recognised
The findings of a federal review into the country’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted more needs to be done by all levels of governments to acknowledge the human cost of the pandemic response and ultimately restore public trust, says Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finlay. -
Age Discrimination
1 October 2024Media ReleaseNew report finds Australian media must improve how it reports on older people
Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald AM has urged Australian newsrooms to review their editorial practices, work closely with experts in the age sector, and strengthen staff training to specifically cover age and ageism, after a new report found the media industry is failing to accurately represent older Australians and the issues they are facing. -
Children's Rights
11 October 2024Media ReleaseWe must ‘help way earlier’ – united call to address systemic failures of Australia’s youth justice systems
Joint media release: Justice Reform Initiative and Australian Human Rights Commission Law and justice leaders, parliamentarians, First Nations leaders, child safety advocates, community service providers, peak organisations, and people with lived experience of child imprisonment from around Australia will come together for a landmark parliamentary event in Canberra on Thursday. Amid an… -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
16 August 2024Media ReleaseStates must follow through on our obligations to international treaties in prisons
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and the National Children’s Commissioner today criticised the failure of leadership by the Commonwealth, states and territories to incorporate human rights standards into domestic law. -
Rights and Freedoms
30 May 2024Media Release
Government must seize the moment for a National Human Rights Act
A new parliamentary report recommending a National Human Rights Act as part of a revitalised Human Rights Framework brings Australia closer than ever before to establishing the basic legal protections that Australians need. The report, tabled in Federal Parliament today, includes an example of legislation for a National Human Rights Act, building on decades of work and reinforcing… -
Technology and Human Rights
16 May 2023Opinion pieceChatbot Race must not be Run with Blinkers on
Learn more about the risks of developing generative artificial intelligence products with disregard for human rights. -
Children's Rights
21 November 2024News story
Proposed Social Media Ban for Under-16s in Australia
The Australian Government is proposing laws that will require technology companies to restrict individuals under the age of 16 years from accessing their social media platforms. -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
27 May 2024Media Release
Social Justice Commissioner: now more than ever, Australia must reconcile with its First Nations people
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Katie Kiss, has marked the start of Reconciliation Week by calling on Australians to finally overcome generations of disadvantage and division when it comes to First Nations rights, and forge a path for unity. The Commissioner warned that systemic failures facing Indigenous communities in all sectors of society including… -
Commission – General
14 December 2012Opinion pieceBystanders must join fight against bullying (2011)
The following opinion pieces have been published by the President and Commissioners. Reproduction of the opinion pieces must include reference to where the opinion piece was originally published. -
Children's Rights
19 April 2021Media Release
Governments must prioritise raising the age
National Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO have urged all Australian governments to raise the age of criminal responsibility as a matter of priority. A report commissioned by a meeting of Attorneys-General in July last year recommended that all jurisdictions raise the age and ensure younger teenagers… -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
10 March 2016Opinion piece
Children's rights must come first, says Mick Gooda
The recent death of a 10-year-old in the Kimberley is a tragedy and I pass on my condolences to her family at this particularly distressing time. This tragedy has heightened my conviction that the lives of all of our children in Australia are precious and should be protected at all costs. Nearly 20 years after the Bringing Them Home Report documented the experiences of the Stolen Generations… -
Race Discrimination
6 October 2023Opinion pieceWhatever the voice vote’s result, Australia has a racism problem we must tackle
Read Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan's op-ed, published in The Guardian Australia. "Australia will, fundamentally, be changed on 14 October. However the cards fall in the voice referendum, one thing is for sure: our next urgent national priority is tackling racism." -
Technology and Human Rights
30 October 2024Submission
Guardrails for High-risk AI
Learn more about the need for an Australian Artificial Intelligence Act to better protect human rights -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
31 October 2023Opinion piece
Now is the time to act. The referendum must not lead to despair, but to a search for new ways to secure justice
This opinion piece by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO, appeared in The Guardian Australia on Sunday 29 October 2023 The day the proposal for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice was rejected by the majority of my fellow Australians will be remembered by many as a sombre day in our country’s history. After the result, there is much pain… -
Age Discrimination
14 October 2024Speech
Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald's Press club address
Why Australia Needs Ageism Awareness Day Shared Presentation with Dr Marlene Krasovitsky from EveryAGE Counts Wednesday, 25 September 2024 Check against delivery Introduction Thank you Marlene. It is a great joy to be here at this significant event. This is my third appearance at the National Press Club, but I'm now about 30 years older than the last time, so it's good to be back as an older… -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
13 February 2019Media Release
Kimberley Suicide report must be turning point for action
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO says the report into the deaths of 13 Aboriginal children and young people must be the turning point for action. The West Australian Coroner Ros Fogliani has today handed down her report into the suicides in the Kimberley region between November 12 and March 2016. Commissioner Oscar said unlike the many… -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
11 February 2015Opinion piece
We must keep striving to close the gap in Indigenous health
"Just in the last week, three of my closest friends and a relative have been diagnosed with cancer. This is not an uncommon story, to be – as a community – constantly in grief, loss and trauma." These words, from Janine Mohamed, chief executive of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives, will be familiar to our communities across Australia. As will her… -
Race Discrimination
16 October 2024News story
National consultations show widespread, systemic racism damaging lives
Racism is commonplace and normalised in Australia and can affect almost every part of a person’s daily life, according to a new report for the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). National consultations with diverse and marginalised communities revealed first-hand accounts from hundreds of people who have experienced racism. -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
6 November 2024Opinion piece
The year our Voice broke: The fallout from the failed referendum
“It’s gone.” That’s what Mick Gooda said to me plaintively half an hour into counting the votes to enshrine a First Nations Voice to parliament in our constitution on October 14, 2023. I’d started that day – a year ago today – with a high level of optimism that Australia was going to do this, that Australia would get this right, that Australia would make history. How wrong I was. Instead,… -
Race Discrimination
16 October 2024Publication
An Anti-Racism Framework: The Perspectives of Multicultural Australia
This report presents the findings and recommendations that followed consultations with more than 1200 people with lived experience of racism from across Australia, enhancing the Commission’s understanding of the prevalence and impact of racism in the country.