News
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Failure to close the gap puts Indigenous communities at increased risk
Commission - General
Royal Commission Commencement Welcomed
The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomes the commencement of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of people with disability. The Commission also welcomes the appointment of Disability Discrimination Commissioner Alastair McEwin to the Royal Commission. The...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Our Choices, Our Voices: Celebrating Success on National Close the Gap Day
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO and the Co-Chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples Rod Little, will today release the 2019 Close the Gap report – “Our Choices, Our Voices”. The report, prepared by the Lowitja Institute, is being...
Disability Rights
25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act
It was 25 years ago this month that the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (the ‘DDA’) commenced operation. On 1 March 1993, Australians with a dis¬ability had a national law that was designed to provide them with equality in many areas of life. Over the past quarter of a cen¬tury, the DDA...
Rights and Freedoms
Affordable Housing: a fresh lens
Speech: ‘Affordable Housing: a fresh lens’ - Tim Wilson, Human Rights Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
Race Discrimination
Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act
In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...
Rights and Freedoms
Speak up out of respect for rights and culture
To advance human rights we need to promote a culture of respect for everyone exercising their choice and freedoms. On a day-to-day basis, human rights probably appear abstract for most Australians. The term often gets raised in discussion about how we are treating asylum seekers, or when we discuss...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
NSW Tenants’ Union Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Program
Today I would like to extend the way you may view your work and some of the tools available to you. The Tenants Union is part of a long tradition of fighting for housing justice, as I understand, going all the way back to 1910. What I want to add to this robust tradition is a human rights approach.
Race Discrimination
Communique 2010 - Racism, exclusion and poverty: key factors reducing international student safety (2010)
Monday, 12 April 2010 Racism, exclusion and poverty: key factors reducing international student safety On 31 March 2010, the Academy of the Social Sciences, the Australian Human Rights Commission and Universities Australia worked in partnership to plan and deliver the Racism and the Student...
Rights and Freedoms
Stand on your rights, or see them trampled (2009)
Australia is a great country to live in — for most of us most of the time. We don’t suffer the terrible poverty witnessed in some parts of the world, our judicial system works well by international standards and most of us can vote in elections by secret ballot. Most of us can live pretty safely, say what we like most of the time and, if we are so inclined, practise our faith in peace. Most of us have access to decent education and health services.
Commission - General
Address delivered to volunteer lawyers at the Welfare Rights Centre Housing Legal Clinic
I am very grateful for the opportunity to address you today and express my admiration to you all for taking on the very necessary venture of providing practical legal assistance to some of the most powerless and marginalised people in society.
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