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“The Commission will consider the Religious Freedom Review, and any proposals for reform, once the report is officially released. “Any law reform proposal must protect the rights of everyone in Australia. “The Commission made six recommendations to the Review. In addition to better public education on freedom of religion, the Commission called for federal law to prohibit discrimination on the ...

Learn more about how Australians need ethical AI which is designed and deployed to protect human rights.

Learn more about how ethical AI, facial recognition and biometrics technologies can embody human rights if designed and deployed appropriately.

This Statement provides guidance on the short-term use of hotel APODs, including access to open‑air exercise, access to meaningful programs and activities, and the need to ensure medical and welfare services are of the same standard as those provided in other immigration detention facilities.

The current and former Social Justice Commissioners have called for political leadership to ensure the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on constitutional recognition are realised. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO and former commissioners Mick Gooda, Professor Tom Calma AO, Dr William Jonas AM and Emeritus Professor Mick Dodson AM ...

The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomes the publication of the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Following the findings and recommendations in the report, released today, the Commission would like to see the human rights of older people embedded in the planning, provision and monitoring of aged care services in Australia. “Older people have the same ...

The travel ban on Australian citizens returning from India, accompanied by criminal sanctions under the Biosecurity Act, raises serious human rights concerns. The Commission supports the continuation of aid to the Indian Government as it copes with the current COVID-19 crisis, but the Commission holds deep concerns about these extraordinary new restrictions on Australians returning to Australia ...

Former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, is calling on Australian employers to issue a limited waiver of confidentiality obligations in non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for the purpose of allowing people to make a confidential submission to the National Inquiry into Workplace Sexual Harassment (the National Inquiry). The National Inquiry, supported by Government, is ...

As most Australian children return to school today, they are being invited to share their stories about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their wellbeing, and how they have coped.

Anne Hollonds has commenced in her role as Australia’s new National Children’s Commissioner. Commissioner Hollonds emphasised the need for greater recognition of the importance of childhood in Australia. “Childhood is quite rightly described as critically important for people's social, health and economic outcomes, but the value of childhood is not only about the future adult that a child may ...

Australia’s National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds is urging governments and service providers to implement a new national toolkit to help improve laws and policy decisions and monitor their impacts on children.

Leading disability rights advocate Rosemary Kayess will give the 2020 Human Rights Day Oration today. Last year’s Human Rights Medal winner, and a contributor to the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Rosemary Kayess will discuss the social transformation of CRPD and the impact it has had on the community as well as her work with the Disability Royal ...

Australia’s new Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Rosemary Kayess, said we need to reframe how Australians think about disability, and address social structures that prevent people with disability from participating equally in society. Commissioner Kayess said there is a unique opportunity to transform the lives of people with disability following the Disability Royal Commission and the ...

The Australian Human Rights Commission supports reform to improve protections against religious discrimination for all people in Australia. While supporting much of the draft Religious Discrimination Bill, the Commission urges that the Bill be amended to avoid limiting other human rights and overriding existing anti-discrimination laws. “The Commission has advocated for more than 20 years for a ...

On International Women’s Day (IWD) the Commission pays tribute to the tireless and important work of First Nations women across Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO has called for recognition and celebration of the power and potential of deadly First Nations women all over the country who are leading, nurturing and growing the oldest living ...

A new survey on attitudes to employing older workers has found that up to 30 per cent of Australian employers are still reluctant to hire workers over a certain age, and for more than two thirds of this group, that age was over 50. The survey of more than 900 human resource professionals was conducted by the Australian HR Institute supported by the Australian Human Rights Commission. It builds on ...

The Australian Human Rights Commission has warned that the proposed Cashless Debit Card Bill is not compatible with Australia’s international human rights obligations. In a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Income Management to Cashless Debit Card Transition) Bill 2019, the Commission also raises concerns regarding the lack of robust evidence ...