Revitalising Australia’s commitment to human rights
Rights and Freedoms
Download the report
The following versions of Revitalising Australia’s commitment to human rights are available to download:
Overview
Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights is the final report of a five-year Inquiry by the Australian Human Rights Commission into Australia’s national protections for human rights and anti-discrimination. The report proposes a re-imagined National Human Rights Framework and outlines a major reset of how human rights are considered and protected in Australia. It sets out a modern reform agenda to meet the challenges of 21st century life.
The report makes 12 recommendations that focus on large, structural reforms at the national level to be advanced through the introduction of a revitalised National Human Rights Framework. These reforms would improve government accountability, increase awareness about human rights, and provide all people in Australia with better access to justice in case their rights are breached.
This report is the culmination of extensive research and consultations with government, stakeholder groups and civil society across Australia as part of the Commission’s major five-year inquiry, Free & Equal: A National Conversation on Human Rights.
The report’s recommendations are listed below.
Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights is a statutory report that was tabled in Federal Parliament by the Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, on 7 December 2023.
Key messages
The Commission has recommended a National Human Rights Act for Australia and has published a detailed model of how an Act should operate.
However, a Human Rights Act alone is not enough to ensure that human rights will be protected.
This latest report, Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights, outlines a National Framework for Human Rights that would support a National Human Rights Act.
The Framework includes mechanisms to ensure:
· Greater community understanding of human rights
· Effective governance for the protection of human rights
· Accountability to ensure that all parties are fulfilling their roles
· Systems to monitor what difference these actions are making.
Further background
You can read more about the Free & Equal Inquiry on the Commission's website. It includes links the both the Inquiry’s previous position papers:
· A Human Rights Act for Australia
· A Reform Agenda for Federal Discrimination Laws
It also includes links to a series of discussion papers relating to the Inquiry.
Recommendations
Revitalising Australia’s commitment to human rights makes the following recommendations:
Recommendation 1: Australia establishes a National Human Rights Framework
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government introduce a National Human Rights Framework. The Framework should include the following, inter-related, actions:
1. comprehensive and effective protection of human rights in legislation through the introduction of a national Human Rights Act
2. modernised federal discrimination laws that shift the focus from a reactive model that responds to discriminatory treatment to a proactive model that seeks to prevent discriminatory treatment in the first place
3. an enhanced role for Parliament in protecting human rights, through reform to the processes for parliamentary scrutiny and the introduction of new oversight mechanisms for Australia’s human rights obligations
4. a national human rights indicator index to independently measure progress on human rights
5. an annual statement to Parliament on human rights priorities is made by the Government.
6. a national human rights education program
7. a sustainable National Human Rights Institution, the Australian Human Rights Commission, to support the Framework.
8. support for vibrant and robust civil society organisations to protect human rights.
Recommendation 2: Implementing the National Human Rights Framework
The National Human Rights Framework should:
· set out commitments over a 10 year period, with 2 five year implementation plans
· be adequately, appropriately and sustainably resourced
· include mechanisms for community engagement and participation in the framework’s operation
· set measurable targets
· identify how the framework interacts with other national frameworks, agreements and plans; and
· include a monitoring, evaluation and learning framework with public reporting at regular intervals, in line with the commitments.
Recommendation 3: A national Human Rights Act
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government enact a federal Human Rights Act. Further, the Commission recommends that a Draft Exposure Bill be developed based on the Commission’s model Human Rights Act.
Recommendation 4: Reform of federal discrimination laws
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government modernise federal discrimination laws to ensure their effectiveness and shift the focus from a reactive model that responds to discriminatory treatment to a proactive model that seeks to prevent discriminatory treatment in the first place.
Consideration should be given to undertaking these reforms in two stages:
Stage one: addressing immediate priorities and fixing longstanding problems in the operation of federal discrimination law (year 1)
Stage two: introducing a new co-regulatory model that broadens and expands on the positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act (years 2–3).
Recommendation 5: Parliamentary scrutiny and the role of the PJCHR
The Commission recommends that:
A. Amendments be made to House and Senate Standing Orders requiring that bills may not be passed until a final report of the PJCHR has been tabled in Parliament, with limited exceptions for urgent matters. In the event that a Bill proceeds to enactment by exception, provision should be included for a later review of the legislation if the Bill relevantly engaged human rights.
B. Amendment of section 7 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), along the lines of the power of the UK Human Rights Committee, to allow it to ‘make special reports on any human rights issues which it may think fit to bring to the notice of Parliament’ (but excluding consideration of individual cases). The Commission recommends that the resourcing of the PJCHR be increased to enable it to perform the wider inquiry role.
C. Amendment of section 9 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth) to require statements of compatibility for all legislative instruments.
D. That the range of matters to be addressed in a Statement of Compatibility should include consideration of consultations undertaken.
E. That Statements of Compatibility include consideration of compliance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
F. That with the introduction of a Human Rights Act, the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth) is amended, or an accompanying legislative instrument drafted, to provide greater clarity on expectations in statements of compatibility, both in regard to rights and freedoms set out in the Human Rights Act and the remaining obligations under international treaties not expressly included in the Human Rights Act.
G. A public sector human rights education program be introduced, to provide training and resources to public servants to enable them to understand and analyse human rights.
H. Consideration be given to having designated human rights advisers in Departments.
Recommendation 6: Parliament’s role in reviewing Australia’s implementation of our international human rights obligations
The Commission recommends that:
A. The Attorney-General reinstate the practice of tabling Concluding Observations of human rights treaty committees in both houses of Parliament.
B. The Australian Government should maintain a publicly available and up to date database about the Concluding Observations made by each UN treaty committee and their status.
C. The Government reform the Standing National Mechanism for Treaty Body Reporting to include public reporting on treaty bodies and individual communications.
D. The Attorney-General table information about individual communications in Parliament on an annual basis, along with the Australian Government’s response to these.
E. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights be empowered to review the adequacy of the Australian Government’s response to individual communications and / or Concluding Observations from time to time.
F. The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties conduct a review of all existing reservations and interpretive declarations under human rights treaties.
Recommendation 7: A National Human Rights Indicator Index
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government introduce a National Human Rights Indicator Index that can measure progress on human rights over time.
Recommendation 8: A National Human Rights Statement
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government commit to an annual National Human Rights Statement to Parliament.
Recommendation 9: A National Human Rights Education Action Plan
The Commission recommends that a National Human Rights Education Action Plan be introduced targeted to the Australian Public Service, primary and secondary schools, workplaces and the general community.
Recommendation 10: An appropriately resourced AHRC
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government ensure the Australian Human Rights Commission is appropriately and sustainably resourced to perform its functions including supporting the Framework, in accordance with the Paris Principles.
Recommendation 11: A robust civil society to protect human rights
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government support measures that invest in and build community capacity to realise human rights and freedoms, including by:
· instituting regular forums for dialogue with the NGO sector on human rights
· providing funding support for NGOs to advance human rights protection
· supporting the independent participation of NGOs in UN human rights processes
· maintaining and re-establishing programs that build capacity and support the participation of Indigenous peoples and persons with disability in UN human rights mechanisms.
Recommendation 12: The role of business in protecting human rights
The Commission recommends that the Australian Government develop a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.