National emergencies
Explore how national emergencies test Australia's human rights protections and the government and community preparedness needed for effective crisis response.
Summary
- Human rights are not always considered in national emergencies, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Commission is currently preparing a report on the human rights impacts of responses to natural disasters in Australia.
Download the fact sheet
National emergencies
This fact sheet provides information on issues raised in the report card as well as findings from a range of reports and submissions made by the Commission over the past 12 months.
Human rights must be considered in national emergencies
Equality and fairness | Other priority human rights issues
Human rights have not been sufficiently addressed in times of natural disaster or emergency, with lessons still to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and included in national emergency management frameworks.
The COVID-19 pandemic
Human rights are not always considered in national emergencies, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. For over two years, the Australian federal, state and territory governments introduced a range of measures that restricted free movement and association. There was limited transparency about how decisions to restrict human rights were made, with many enacted through delegated legislation and consequently reduced Parliamentary scrutiny.
These included restrictions on:
- travel overseas and across interstate boarders
- when and for how long people were permitted to leave their homes
- the number of people who could gather in private residences, restaurants and businesses, and attendees at funerals and weddings
- access to family in aged care
- public gatherings.
The measures were broadly effective in avoiding mortality rates experienced in other countries and Australia’s economic performance was comparatively strong. Recurring criticisms of those measures were however raised by thousands of Australians through an Australian Human Rights Commission report.
Concerns with Australia's response
These concerns included that the measures: were inconsistently applied, did not accommodate reasonable exemptions, were not localised, were not proportionate, were not communicated effectively, and that governments failed to adequately acknowledge and mitigate the immediate and long-term impacts of these measures.
The Commission identified 7 key principles to guide Australia in being better prepared when the next emergency arises. Building on this work, the Commission is currently preparing a report on the human rights impacts of responses to natural disasters in Australia.
Priority action
The Australian government should embed human rights in decision-making during emergencies.
'Collateral Damage' Report Into Australia's COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Learn more about the report by the Australian Human Rights Commission that highlights how critical gaps in the emergency response could be improved upon in future crises.
