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Learn more about the federal government’s proposed Communications Legislation Amendment (Combating Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill.

In an opinion piece published in The Mandarin, Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay decries Australia’s ongoing failures in torture protection. The piece was published on the 1989 anniversary of Australia signing up to the UN Convention Against Torture.

Opinion piece by Commission President Rosalind Croucher published in the Australian newspaper The raids on the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst and the offices of the ABC have highlighted the vulnerability of press freedom in Australia compared to other similar liberal democracies. The offences being investigated, as set out in the relevant warrants, included alleged offences by…

Behind human rights is the still revolutionary idea that every human being is free and equal, that individuals own their own bodies and should be free to pursue their lives, opportunities and enterprise. Human rights provide the foundation for our liberal democracy, our market economy and our civil society. It was the signing 800 years ago of the Magna Carta, or Great Charter of 1215, by…

Opinion piece | Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay Earlier this month the Australian Human Rights Commission released Collateral Damage: What the untold stories from the COVID-19 pandemic reveal about human rights in Australia. In the five years since COVID-19 reached Australia, this report is the first to assess the country’s pandemic response through a human rights lens. It is…

Freedom of speech is alive and well in Australia but, with respect to Voltaire, we will not defend to the death those who abuse this right by vilifying others in public on the ground of race.

When president Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the 1941 State of the Union address he spoke of four essential human freedoms people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy. The very first of these was freedom of speech and expression. Free speech was listed first because it is the bedrock of democracy. Salman Rushdie famously described it as “the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is…

This opinion piece by Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, appeared in The Australian on Monday 29 April 2024. When President Roosevelt gave the 1941 State of the Union Address he spoke of four essential human freedoms that people ‘everywhere in the world’ ought to enjoy. The very first of these was freedom of speech and expression. Free speech was listed first because it is the…

There’s been a lot of talk, anger and resistance to the changes of our rights and freedoms as Australia deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. In some way or another, each and every one of us has encountered restrictions – on our freedom of movement, the right to peaceful protest, the ability to engage in public areas without wearing masks and the requirement to provide personal information for…

Opinion by Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson. First published in The Australian on 17 May 2014. Reform is not the end of debating free speech in Australia, it is the beginning The “forgotten freedoms” provide the foundations of our liberal democracy, and we have to reconnect with them. There are competing views about how human rights and freedoms should be approached. After all, human…