Skip to main content

Browse News

Rights and Freedoms

Winners announced - 2018 Human Rights Awards

The Honourable Justice Peter McClellan AM and Chrissie Foster have won the prestigious 2018 Human Rights Medal for their enormous contribution to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Chrissie Foster has long campaigned for justice for survivors of institutional...

Category, News
Commission – General

Finalists for 2018 Government Award revealed

Four finalists have been selected from a diverse range of nominations for the 2018 Human Rights Awards’ Government Award. This year marks the first time our Awards recognise Government as a stand-alone category. “There are many Government groups and individuals helping others overcome discrimination...

Category, News
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Children and racism

Protecting young lives against racial discrimination. Insights from June Oscar AO from the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

The AHRC and the Racial Discrimination Act: setting the record straight

Federal racial hatred legislation and the complaints-handling processes of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) are currently the subjects of an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee’s ‘Freedom of speech in Australia’ inquiry, due to report by 28...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Generation to Close the Gap?

At the heart of this nation, there is a fundamental wrong in the relationship between the First Peoples and non-Indigenous people. We are divided between those who celebrate Australia Day without any thought of the implications of that day, and those who mourn Invasion Day and mark it as Survival Day...

Category, Opinion
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...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Charlie Hebdo V 18C: no contest

Charlie Hebdo would have risked being censored by the courts, but self-censorship is the reality of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

The government should fix two free-speech obstacles together: 35P and 18C

The Abbott government should correct the festering sores of 35P of National Security Legislation and 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act together. Since the passage of Section 35P of the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill a number of journalists have decried the threat to free speech of...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Free speech is best medicine for the bigotry disease

THE proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act provide the basis for correcting the legal limits of free speech, ­promoting pluralism, opposing reprehensible racism and highlighting the importance of ­responsibility. Arguably the most important change is assessing an 18C violation based on...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Combating Racism in Sport panel discussion (2011)

I would like to acknowledge the initiative of the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the AFL in coordinating this session. I’d further like to thank the Head of Mission, Mr Peter Woollcott for the invitation to participate in today’s discussion which focuses on racism and sport in Australia.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Act closed wounds but not the gap (2009)

In 1994, phone numbers had seven digits, we listened to Crowded House, and it was legal to own a semi-automatic rifle. Mother And Son and A Country Practice disappeared from television screens, and The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert and Muriel's Wedding showed off our magnificent country and sense of humour while touching on tough issues such as marginalisation, sexuality and racism.

Category, Opinion
Race Discrimination

How to be an anti-racist in the workplace

Diversity and representation in the workplace is important, but not enough to tackle racism alone. In this session, Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, explains an anti-racism approach which confronts the structural racism embedded in workplaces, and allows people of negatively racialised backgrounds to thrive. This event was brought to you by Multicultural Affairs Queensland in partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission for Multicultural Queensland Month 2024.

Category, Speech

Follow us on social media

We engage in social media to promote discussion and debate on human rights issues.

Media centre

Visit our media centre for up to date contact details for all media enquiries.

Learn More