Annual Report 2002-2003: Statement from president

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: Annual Report 2002 - 2003

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Statement from the President

I am delighted to present my first statement as President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Much of what is reported in this volume occurred before I took up my appointment. The last twelve months have been a time of challenge and success for the Commission as it continues the important task of promoting and protecting the observance of human rights in Australia.

My first duty is to acknowledge the extraordinary contribution to this Commission by the former President, Professor Alice Erh-Soon Tay. Professor Tay was appointed in April 1998. She brought to the Commission a lifetime of passion for education and a desire to provide practical leadership in the field of human rights. She deftly guided the Commission through a time of significant change, particularly with regard to the changing nature of the Commission's complaint handling role and the transfer of the Commission's hearing function to the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Service. She also provided great focus for the Commission's education programs and its intervention and amicus curiae functions before the courts.

Professor Tay was also a strong and effective advocate for the Commission, particularly in recent times with the introduction before Parliament of the Australian Human Rights Commission Bill 2003. The amendments proposed by this Bill would seriously impact on the work of the Commission. Professor Tay's contribution to the Commission and the Australian legal community cannot be overstated.

The Commission is currently able to seek leave of a court to intervene in cases that raise human rights or discrimination issues. The role of the intervener is to provide specialist assistance to the court, independent from the parties to a case. Since it was established in 1986, the Commission has intervened in 35 cases. These include interventions in cases involving family law issues, child abduction, the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, sex and marital discrimination, native title and other general human rights issues. The Bill would require the Commission to obtain the Attorney-General's consent prior to seeking leave to intervene. In the Commission's view, it is inappropriate that a potential party to litigation – such as the Commonwealth – should be able to exercise a ‘gatekeeper function' in relation to interveners.

More fundamentally, such a proposal is at odds with the Commission's role as an independent body, responsible for monitoring and promoting Australia's compliance with human rights obligations accepted under international law.

The amendments proposed by the Bill also alter the structure of the Commission, replacing the identified portfolio Commissioners with three generic ‘Human Rights Commissioners' who have overlapping responsibilities. The Commission considers this change to be unnecessary. The current structure of the Commission provides a strong educational and advocacy role for individual Commissioners, which has in the past received significant community support.

A strong and independent national human rights organisation is crucial to promote and protect fundamental values of fairness, equality, tolerance and non-discrimination. The success and vitality of the Commission is reflected in the fact that many other nations, particularly those in the Asia Pacific region, have modelled their own national human rights institution on the Commission.

I commenced my appointment as President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in June 2003. It is with a sense of deep privilege and commitment that I take up this position. The promotion and protection of human rights, in one way or another, has been a fundamental concern for me. I believe human rights are not a distant, abstract concept. Rather my experience as a barrister and, later, as a Judge has demonstrated time and again the fact that human rights are central to the lives of all men, women and children in our society. In my time with the Commission I shall strive to find practical and realistic solutions to issues of discrimination and breaches of human rights.

Since its establishment, this Commission has been actively engaged in assisting people find such solutions, including through the resolution of individual complaints of discrimination and by conducting substantial national inquiries. Today there remain many challenges including in particular:

• the fact that Indigenous Australians still lag far behind non-Indigenous Australians in their enjoyment of very many basic human rights;
• that people continue to face discrimination because of their gender, their ethnicity or because they have a disability;
• our treatment of asylum seekers;
• that there is an undercurrent of tension and mistrust between different groups of Australians, fuelled by the tragic events of recent years.

The mere statement that certain human rights are not being fully enjoyed in these and other situations is a very hollow exercise unless the whole community is prepared to acknowledge and recognise those rights and encourage their protection. In times such as these, education must be a key priority for the Commission to help people to understand the human rights of others and their obligation to recognise them. We can help people to understand that the assertion of human rights is not an attempt to take something away from those that ‘have', but rather, it is an occasion to extend to those who ‘have not' something that is theirs for the benefit of the whole community.

The Commission's success in its educative role can be seen through initiatives such as:

• the Youth Challenge program for secondary schools and the development of on-line resources for teachers;
• our engagement with the media, to comment on the human rights principles in important news stories;
• the growing popularity of our website; and

• the huge demand for printed resources, such as Face the Facts:Some Questions and Answers about Immigration, Refugees and Indigenous Affairs.

But education is much broader that that – it involves raising questions of national importance and inviting people to think more deeply about the issues at hand. This occurred, for example, with the National Inquiry into Paid Maternity Leave and the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention – both major national inquiries. It also occurred when the Commission intervened in the ‘Tampa' case and the ‘IVF' case.

The overview of the Commission's functions and the portfolio reports concerning:

• Complaints;
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice;
• Race discrimination;
• Sex discrimination;
• Human rights; and
• Disability rights

contained in this Report show that the 2002–2003 year has been one of significant achievements.

I draw attention also to the role which the Commission continues to play in the international arena, particularly in the Asia Pacific region.

The strength and vitality of human rights institutions in this region is demonstrated by the fact that full membership of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (the ‘APF') now numbers 12 countries. The Commission hosted the Forum's Secretariat since its inception in 1996. In March 2002, the Secretariat was established as a fully independent entity – a move that will improve its ability to support existing Forum members and encourage the development of national institutions in other countries.

In 2002-03, as in past years, the Commission participated in some bilateral international program activities, generally as part of the Australian Government's development cooperation program developed by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

I look forward to working with the members and staff of the Commission to build on the very excellent work that is being carried on by them.

The Hon. John von Doussa, QC President, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission September 2003