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Submission: DFAT consultation on LGBTQIA+ human rights in Australia’s development program

posted on March 15, 2024

ALHR has provided a submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) consultation on LGBTQIA+ human rights in Australia’s development program.  Despite engagement with LGBTQIA+ rights internationally, Australia has not, to date, developed a formal LGBTQIA+ foreign policy strategy.  We therefore welcome the Federal Government’s intention to increase its support and advocacy for … Read More >>

EOI’s Invited: ALHR Western Australia Convenors

posted on February 10, 2024

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) is seeking expressions of interest from lawyers to Co-Convene our Western Australian activities and play a leading role within the Western Australia for a Human Rights Act Coalition (WA4HRA) About the roles The successful applicants will be lawyers or final year law students with a knowledge of and passion … Read More >>

Submission: Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill 2023 (NSW)

posted on January 31, 2024

ALHR made a submission to NSW’s Portfolio Committee No. 7 – Planning and Environment, providing feedback on the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill 2023 (NSW) (“the Bill”). Our submission was solely directed towards the Bill’s inclusion of the human right to a healthy environment as a guiding principle, and does not otherwise comment on the … Read More >>

ACT Legislative Assembly Committee Recommends the Protection of the Human Right to a Healthy Environment

posted on January 25, 2024

In an Australian first, an ACT Government Parliamentary Committee has recommended that the human right to a healthy environment be recognised under ACT law and protected within the Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT). The ACT Legislative Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety today released its final report into the Inquiry into Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023. … Read More >>

ALHR Submission: Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023

posted on January 25, 2024

ALHR made a submission to the ACT’s Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety (the Committee) providing feedback on the Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023 (‘the Bill’). ALHR’s submission outlines our support for the articulation of the right to a healthy environment in the Bill, our significant concerns with the non-justiciability of that right … Read More >>

Parliamentary inquiry into Human Rights Act for South Australia

posted on December 10, 2023

South Australia is one step closer to a Human Rights Act, with the Social Development Committee of the South Australian Parliament committing to hold a parliamentary inquiry into how human rights across the State can be guaranteed and protected.  The announcement comes on Human Rights Day and exactly one year after a group of more … Read More >>

Major report calls for Federal Human Rights Act and overhaul of Australia’s Human Rights Framework

posted on December 8, 2023

A major new report tabled yesterday by Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP in Federal Parliament, calls for an overhaul of Australia’s Human Rights framework and a Federal Human Rights Act to better protect the rights of all Australians. Ms Kerry Weste, President, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR), said, “We welcome the … Read More >>

ALHR Submission: PJCHR Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework

posted on December 8, 2023

ALHR commends the Federal Attorney-General, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus KC, on the establishment of a PJCHR Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry to investigate Australia’s human rights framework, with a focus on whether the Federal Government should introduce a federal human rights Act.  For thirty years ALHR has called on Australia to comprehensively incorporate … Read More >>

Civil Society calls for an end to discrimination against migrants with disabilities

posted on November 28, 2023

More than 70 of Australia’s leading disability and civil society organisations have endorsed wide-ranging recommendations to reform the nation’s archaic and degrading migration health laws. The recommendations are  part of a submission made by the Welcoming Disability Campaign to a public review of Australia’s migration health requirement being conducted by the Federal Government. The recommendations … Read More >>

High Court rules indefinite detention unlawful

posted on November 9, 2023

The landmark High Court judgment, which ruled it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the Australian Government to detain people indefinitely in immigration detention, should mark the end of a brutal chapter in Australia’s history. Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) NSW Co-Convenor, Ms Stephanie Lee said the decision is an historic judgment that corrects some … Read More >>

School Student Forum on the Right to a Healthy Environment

posted on November 9, 2023

On Friday 8 November ALHR collaborated with the University of Newcastle School of  Law Centre for Law and Social Justice and the Human Rights for NSW Alliance to host a School Student Forum on the Right to a Healthy Environment. More than 60 students from the Newcastle region came to together to talk about what the … Read More >>

Leading human rights lawyers and disability justice experts call for end to indefinite detention laws

posted on October 19, 2023

Leading human rights lawyers and disability justice experts are calling for an immediate end to indefinite detention laws in Australia that often see people with disabilities abused and victimised, their behaviour criminalised and often becoming victims of the criminal justice system rather than being managed through disability support services. The call follows the recent episode … Read More >>