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Commission – General

Commission welcomes passage of new Bill to strengthen its independence

The Australian Human Rights Commission has welcomed the passage in the Senate today of the Australian Human Rights Commission Legislation Amendment (Selection and Appointment) Bill 2022. The Bill ensures Commissioner appointments are publicly advertised and subject to an open, transparent and merit...

Category, News
Rights and Freedoms

New report aims to help fast-track Australia’s OPCAT implementation process

A new report released today by the Australian Human Rights Commission outlines activities required to expedite Australia’s sluggish approach to implementing the United Nation’s Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)...

Category, News
Rights and Freedoms

Housing and human rights - rights where it matters

Sandy Duncanson Memorial Lecture Housing and human rights – rights where it matters Hobart, 11 October 2022 Abstract Homelessness can happen to anyone. People with disability are at an increased risk and they are joined by a growing invisible cohort of older women. COVID-19 was a trigger for state...

Category, Speech
Age Discrimination

New campaign seeks to reduce abuse of older Australians

Launched today to coincide with the 2022 International Day of Older Persons, the Elder Abuse: Shift Your Perspective campaign includes a series of videos which prompt perpetrators to consider how their behaviour might be affecting older people in their lives.

Category, News
Commission – General

Commission urges passage of new Bill to strengthen integrity

The Australian Human Rights Commission is urging all federal parliamentarians to support the passage of the new Australian Human Rights Commission Legislation Amendment (Selection and Appointment) Bill 2022. Commission President, Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, has welcomed the introduction...

Category, News
Rights and Freedoms

Promoting and protecting human rights in Australia

The Australian Human Rights Commission: promoting and protecting human rights in Australia St Andrew’s College, University of Sydney, 14 July 2022 Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM FAAL Abstract This presentation explores the role of the Australian Human Rights Commission in the context of the...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Reflections on women and human rights

Thank you to the Lyceum Club for inviting me to speak, and to Christine Yeats and Judith White for your warm introduction. I recall that for my late mother, Dr Amy McGrath OAM, the revival of the Sydney Lyceum Club was very special. In sorting through papers of my parents, following the passing of...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Whither human rights and freedoms protections in Australia?

As I reflect on the past two years, it is clear that the pandemic has brought a renewed national focus on the importance of centralising considering rights and freedoms during times of crisis — a greater ‘rights consciousness’.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Statement on international accreditation of the Australian Human Rights Commission

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s status as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) has been reviewed by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) – the international standards body. This review, conducted every five years, considers whether the Commission...

Category, Story
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Reappointment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomes the reappointment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO.  Australian Human Rights Commission President Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM said Commissioner Oscar would continue to be a strong advocate...

Category, Story
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

We will not sit down or stand to the side

OPINION There are moments in history where the forces of what has come before and the energy of the present reconfigure the social and political landscape. In Australia and around the globe, reckoning with misogyny and the interrelated issues of systemic racism and patriarchal destruction has been...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

What is happening in Ukraine should matter to every Australian

OPINION There is almost 13,000km between Australia and Ukraine. It is literally on the other side of the world. Given the vast distances that separate us, it would be easy to claim that what happens there has nothing to do with us. That Australia should focus instead on the many challenges we...

Category, Opinion

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