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Childrens Rights7 July 2025Opinion piece
Child safety and wellbeing must be made a national priority
National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds had an op-ed published in the Canberra Times criticising the lack of government accountability for the protection of children. This comes in the wake of recent allegations of child abuse across several childcare centres in Melbourne. -
Sex Discrimination1 July 2020Opinion piece
Sexual harassment is prevalent across all industries and sectors. We can and must stop it
Sexual harassment is prevalent across all industries and sectors. We can and must stop it. -
Childrens Rights10 December 2024Opinion piece
After the social media ban, is the job done on child safety and wellbeing?
When the backslapping over the successful passing of the social media ban legislation has finished, there is a significant amount of work that still needs to be done to improve child safety and wellbeing in Australia. -
Rights and Freedoms3 May 2024Opinion piece
We need debate on sensible limits on free speech
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… -
Technology and Human Rights6 May 2024Opinion piece
Protecting Free Speech Doesn’t Mean Dismissing Online Safety
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… -
Technology and Human Rights16 May 2023Opinion piece
Big tech is Ignoring the Human Cost Behind the Rise of ChatGPT
Read more about how big technology companies' race to develop generative AI products is threatening human rights. -
Commission - General3 July 2024Opinion piece
Let’s resist the worst of times with the best of humanity
When I began my term as President of the Australian Human Rights Commission seven years ago, the marriage equality plebiscite was engulfing our nation, in much the same way as the recent Voice referendum did. -
Race Discrimination23 July 2015Opinion piece
Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act
In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was Australia’s first federal human rights and discrimination law. Enacted shortly after the formal -
Technology and Human Rights16 May 2023Opinion piece
Chatbot Race must not be Run with Blinkers on
Learn more about the risks of developing generative artificial intelligence products with disregard for human rights. -
Commission - General14 December 2012Opinion piece
Opinion Pieces / Articles
Discover a collection of opinion pieces. -
Age Discrimination30 June 2020Opinion piece
We can all help end elder abuse
There are no exact figures on elder abuse in Australia. There is a study underway, but we may never know the total number of older people experiencing elder abuse in this country because it often takes place in secret and behind closed doors. Current estimates from Australian Institute of Family Studies are that between 2 and 14 per cent of older Australians experience elder abuse in any…