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As with any agreement, there are certain requirements that OPCAT signatories need to fulfill, and Australia has been given longer than any other country to meet our OPCAT commitments. Today – 20 January 2023 – is our extended compliance deadline, and Australia has failed to deliver on our promises.

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…

Novak Djokovic’s recent detention at Melbourne’s Park Hotel drew international attention to Australia’s use of hotels as Alternative Places of Detention by immigration authorities. But while Djokovic’s detention was measured in days, others still remaining in the Park Hotel measure their detention in years. Hotels are simply not appropriate places to detain people for extended periods. The…

Learn about the harsh realities of homelessness.

People often ask me why I feel so strongly about human rights. Perhaps it is fate - both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and I were born 60 years ago. But I think it is simpler than that - I want to feel proud of the Australia that I live in.  

In pursuit of legitimately tackling isolated criminal behaviour, Parliaments are reversing the basic principle of liberal democracy by criminalising the exercise of human rights and prescribing lawful activity.