October 2024: Commission News | President's message

Dear friends,

Australia is one of the safest, most stable and prosperous countries on the planet. For most of us, most of the time, it is a great place to live. For many Australians, human rights violations are things that happen to other people in other places, often overseas.

This can lead to complacency about our own rights protection and the importance of protecting the rights of those less fortunate in our country. We need to understand that when everyone’s rights are protected, it benefits us all. Our society is stronger and healthier.

Two recent speeches by Commissioners at the National Press Club highlighted the importance of human rights protections to all of us.

Commissioner Anne Hollonds spoke about the Commission’s recent 'Help way earlier!’ How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing report. Too often Australian governments are responding with ineffective and harmful approaches to children’s involvement in offending. We need to adopt a child rights approach that works out what is going wrong in the child’s life and how best to address it, through support, education, healthcare and more. By helping children and their families earlier, we not only give them the best chance in life, we help us all by creating safer, fairer communities.

Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald spoke about an issue that affects all of us as we grow older; ageism. We all have the right to live and age with respect, dignity and security. Yet ageism is rife in Australia and is often socially accepted and unchallenged. We need to ensure that our workplaces treat older workers fairly. We need to address elder abuse and tackle ageism in key social sectors like health and aged care. And we need to pay attention to the rights of particular groups, including First Nations and culturally diverse people as they age.

Commissioner Fitzgerald’s speech outlined ways to address ageism including harmonisation of national laws, like powers of attorney, to address elder abuse. The new federal Aged Care Bill is a step forward with its rights-based, person-focused approach, but the rights set out in it are not directly enforceable. We need enforceable legal protections for older people, including through a Human Rights Act.

Finally, this October has two important anniversaries. This week marked one year on from the brutal Hamas attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s devastating and ongoing response. The Commission has heard from affected communities in Australia about their loss, uncertainty, fear, anger and grief at what is happening. We recognise the disturbing rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism and will continue to support people and communities affected by discrimination and hate speech. As outlined in my recent statement, upholding international human rights and humanitarian law must be at the heart of Australia’s responses.

October also marks the anniversary of last year’s failed Voice referendum. I acknowledge the pain of the defeat for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who supported the proposal for a greater say in issues that affect them. At the time of the defeat, I was working at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Victoria’s truth-telling inquiry, and saw firsthand the impact of the result on many Aboriginal communities. I also saw the transformative potential of the truth and treaty processes that are underway in the state.

I am hopeful that truth and treaty processes across the country will provide a pathway forward to acknowledge and build shared understanding of the injustice of the past, help to right those wrongs and lead to a better future for all Australians.  

Hugh de Kretser