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Commission - General

President's message | November 2025

For the common good: climate justice begins with human rights The evidence on the threat to humans posed by climate change is clear. The planet is getting hotter. Seas are rising. Rainfall patterns are changing. In Australia, lives and livelihoods are already being lost to more frequent and severe...

Category, E bulletin
Commission - General

President's message | September 2025

Migration and addressing racism in Australia Migration has fuelled modern Australia’s success. It is connected to our economic prosperity and national character. Half of us have at least one parent born overseas and a quarter are born overseas. There has been bipartisan political support for a non...

Category, E bulletin
Commission - General

Alan Missen Oration 2025

Hugh de Kretser speaks about the legacy of Alan Missen and how his values are reflected in the ongoing work of the Australian Human Rights Commission. 26 August 2025

Category, Speech
Commission - General

President's message | August 2025

Dear friends, Protecting people's rights in rural and regional Australia People living in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia face greater challenges in realising their human rights than people in the cities. So it was good to speak about this at the recent rural, regional and remote...

Category, E bulletin
Commission - General

A Human Rights Vision for Rural and Regional Australia

Hugh de Kretser discusses human rights issues facing regional, rural and remote Australian communities at the July 2025 Community Legal Centres NSW Summit. Limited access to healthcare and education, the impact of climate change and disasters and justice for First Nations communities are just some of the challenges rural communities experience in Australia.

Category, Speech
Commission - General

President's message | June 2025

We must end the practice of police investigating police deaths in custody Two recent Aboriginal deaths in custody in the Northern Territory have again raised questions about the treatment of First Nations people in Australia’s criminal justice systems. Kumanjayi White, a 24 year-old Warlpiri man with...

Category, E bulletin
Commission - General

Data breach notification

The Australian Human Rights Commission has been affected by a data breach concerning attachments uploaded to the Commission’s web forms on its website.

Category, Story
Commission - General

President's message | May 2025

Cost of living issues are human rights issues  Someone said to me just before election day that human rights hadn’t featured much in the federal election campaign. It’s true that the words “human rights” didn’t feature much - but human rights issues did. This was an election about the cost of living...

Category, E bulletin
Commission - General

President's message | April 2025

The vital global role of National Human Rights Institutions Many people who are familiar with the Australian Human Rights Commission are less familiar with the global context in which we operate. The Commission is Australia’s national human rights institution (NHRI) and one of 118 NRHIs globally...

Category, E bulletin
Commission - General

Australian women are diverse, so the approach to women’s safety should be as well

This International Women’s Day, the Commissioners at the Australian Human Rights Commission stand together to call for urgent action to ensure that all women and girls—of every background, age or disability—can live free from violence, discrimination, and inequality. This year’s International Women...

Category, News

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