In a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs inquiry into Centrelink’s compliance program Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has called for urgent reform, noting the system violates international law and is manifestly unjust. ALHR President Kerry Weste said, “The automated system, ‘Robodebt’, remains deeply problematic and raises significant human rights concerns, … Read More >>
Western Australian Government applauded for Bill to cancel warrants for unpaid fines and long awaited roll out of Custody Notification Service. Last Thursday the West Australian Government tabled a bill in Parliament to cancel all unserved warrants for unpaid fines and on Wednesday, after many years of lobbying, a life-saving Custody Notification Service (CNS) went … Read More >>
Australia’s leading association of human rights lawyers, has spoken out about the urgent need for reform of the native title agreement-making process, saying it must comply with international human rights standards. The comments come after the Queensland Government used its available statutory discretions to extinguish native title over 1,385 hectares of Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) … Read More >>
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has welcomed Wednesday’s passage of legislation that allows people in the Australian Capital Territory to possess up to 50 grams of marijuana and to grow up to four plants per household. ALHR President Kerry Weste said, “ALHR congratulates the ACT Parliament on the passage of these laws as an … Read More >>
ALHR made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 reiterating the concerns we raised in our submission to Committee’s 2018 inquiry in relation to the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2018. The effect of the Bill is to further expand the powers of … Read More >>
ALHR made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding concerns with the provisions of the Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing Cohort) Bill 2019. Our submission reiterates the concerns raised in ALHR’s 2016 submission to the Committee’s inquiry in relation to the Migration Legislation Amendment (Regional Processing Cohort) Bill 2016. ALHR strongly opposes the fresh attempt … Read More >>
In a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee regarding the Migration Amendment (Repairing Medical Transfers) Bill 2019 (August 2019), ALHR again expressed its strong opposition to any measures to either repeal or reduce the scope of the Medevac legislation, including via the Bill. The Medevac legislation seeks to ensure that people who are currently … Read More >>
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has welcomed the passage today of historic laws to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales. ALHR President Kerry Weste said “We are extremely pleased that, after many, many years of advocacy the law in New South Wales will finally be updated to remove archaic provisions criminalising abortion.” “New South … Read More >>
Leading human rights lawyers have spoken out in support of students’ right to attend Friday’s climate change strikes. Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) President Kerry Weste said, “ALHR stands with children and young people around Australia as they exercise their internationally-recognised human rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech and to be heard.” “The … Read More >>
Last week, an overwhelming majority of the Western Australian Parliament’s lower house passed a Bill to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The introduction of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 (Bill) is the culmination of two recent major reports that involved significant community consultation across Western Australia and an examination of the Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Act … Read More >>
In July 2019 ALHR made a submission to the QLD Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee in relation to the Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 (the Bill), which proposes to amend the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld), the Bail Act 1980 (Qld), and the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld). The Bill was … Read More >>
ALHR recently made a submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) in relation to their review of Victoria’s Committal System. The terms of reference ask the VLRC to consider opportunities for reform to the committal procedures in respect of criminal proceedings in Victoria. In particular, the VLRC is tasked with considering what reform, if … Read More >>
