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In an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay reflects on the prevalence of modern slavery in Australia, as she welcomes the appointment of the country's inaugural Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

OPINION November 18, 2021 Ronald Reagan famously said that “freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction”. For many Australians, until recently, freedom has been something we have largely been able to take for granted in our daily lives. But with millions of Australians only recently emerging from lengthy lockdowns, and every single one of us still…

As the Government points out on its Australia 2020 Summit website, the new century has thrown up enormous challenges, as well as breathtaking opportunities to us all.

Five years ago I began my term as the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, confident in the ability of the common law and a robust democracy to protect human rights. I leave convinced we need a major legal and cultural overhaul in order to deal with the human rights challenges of the 21st century.

Predictably, opponents of a human rights act reacted swiftly to Mr McHugh's comments, misrepresenting concerns about specific aspects of one model of a human rights act as a reason to reject any such act.

"A system of tyranny, the most galling, the most horrible, the most undisguised in all its parts and attributes that has stained the page of history or disgraced the annals of the world." British Prime Minister William Pitt, 10 November 1797, speech to the House of Commons concerning France under the government of the Directory.

A comment on the current human rights issues faced by Australia in the processing of refugees and asylum seekers

What sort of Australia do we want to live in? I'm quite sure most people, like me, would say they want to live in a society where respect for the individual is recognised as precious. Where everyone is valued, whether they are male or female, young or old, an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, whatever their faith, whether or not they have a disability - everyone.

In the post-September 11 world, debate about counter-terrorism is often characterised as an argument between 'the realists', who appreciate the need for tough new counter-terrorism laws, and 'the out of touch', who fail to take the terrorist threat seriously.

Media reports and repeated allegations of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody have raised fundamental questions about Australia's human rights obligations as part of the "coalition of the willing" .