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Commission – General6 August 2018Publication
Corporate Plan 2018-2019
Our Corporate Plan is the road map that guides the Commission’s work for each financial year with a four year outlook. It shows how we implement our purpose and promote an Australian society where human rights are enjoyed by everyone, everywhere, everyday. There is no simple way to solve complex human rights issues. From the challenges that face a person with a disability seeking to live ... -
24 January 2017Opinion piece
We need a national picture of domestic violence homicides
Authors Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins and President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Professor Gillian Triggs In March 2010, shortly after making the decision to leave her abusive husband after more than 20 years of violence, Zahra Abrahimzadeh was stabbed to death in front of 300 witnesses inside the Adelaide Convention Centre. Two years later, her husband was convicted of ... -
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 life ... -
Children's Rights16 September 2020Opinion piece
Greater focus needed on kids during pandemic
Since lockdown restrictions were introduced in March, the national 24/7 counselling and support service Kids Helpline has received a significant increase in the volume of children and young people seeking help, up 24% to the end of August compared to 2019. The concerns they raised in counselling sessions provide important insights into how governments, parents and educators can better support ... -
Commission – General14 October 2020Publication
Annual Report 2019-2020
This Annual Report sets out the performance of the Australian Human Rights Commission in the 2019–2020 financial year. -
Age Discrimination22 May 2019Publication
Your Rights at Retirement (2019)
2019 Update. Your Rights At Retirement: A guide to making decisions and navigating you through your later life. -
Children's Rights3 February 2020Publication
Children’s Rights Report 2019
The Children’s Rights Report 2019 — In Their Own Right tells the story of how well children’s rights are protected and promoted across Australia. -
Rights and Freedoms3 March 2023Speech
Making rights a reality: the need for a Human Rights Act for Australia
This presentation, on International Human Rights Day, advances the case for a Human Rights Act for Australia, reflecting on experiences during COVID and the difference a Human Rights Act may have made. -
Rights and Freedoms1 July 2020News story
More protections needed for people of faith
A new position paper examines the prevalence and effects of serious harms experienced by religious communities inside Australia. Developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in partnership with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC), Freedom of religion in Australia: a focus on serious harms examines existing research and draws on first-person accounts ... -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice24 April 2019Speech
National Mediation Conference 2019
Jalangurru lanygu balangarri. Yaningi warangira ngindaji yuwa muwayi ingirranggu, Nambiri, Ngunnawal yani U. Balangarri wadjirragali jarra ningi – gamali ngindaji yau muwayi nyirrami ngarri thangani. Yaningi miya ngindaji Muwayi ingga winyira ngirranggu thangani. Yathawarra, wilalawarra jalangurru ngarri guda. Good day everyone. I acknowledge the traditional owners, Nambiri and Ngunnawal peoples ... -
Age Discrimination27 November 2019Media Release
Attorneys-General Need to Act on Elder Abuse
Age Discrimination Commissioner Dr Kay Patterson is calling on the Council of Attorneys-General to agree to take immediate action on elder abuse at their meeting tomorrow to develop a timetable outlining its action plan. “Elder abuse is a blight on our society. Older Australians do not have time on their side, they need immediate action from Governments at state and federal levels,” said Dr ... -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice22 March 2019Publication
Close the Gap report – “Our Choices, Our Voices” (2019)
To address the widening life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non- Indigenous Australians, we have identified three priority areas that must be addressed. -
Age Discrimination5 May 2019Publication
Older Women’s Risk of Homelessness: Background Paper (2019)
This background paper provides context regarding older women’s homelessness. It offers some potential solutions to reduce women’s risk of homelessness with a focus on preventative and innovative approaches that look beyond social and community housing as the answer. -
Children's Rights24 December 2019Video
Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, winner of the 2019 Young People's Human Rights Medal
Receiving her award, Young People’s Human Rights Medal Winner Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts said, “The system does not work for our kids who are incarcerated - my mind and my spirit can't help but think of those young people that aren't here right now. “I ask that every single person assess your privilege and show up on the front line. We need to amplify those voices and we need to raise those voices.” ... -
Commission – General14 December 2012Speech
Why we need an Australian Bill of Rights - a Joint Forum
The first is that HREOC has been suggesting for a considerable time that there needs to be renewed public debate on whether Australia should have a charter of human rights of some sort. It seems that the launch of the New Matilda campaign will give momentum to such a debate. A lot has changed, both nationally and internationally since the unsuccessful attempts of the 1970s and the 1980s to interest Australians in a bill of rights. As is so often said, Australia has now become the only major Western democracy that does not have a bill of rights. -
Race Discrimination16 March 2021Speech
Australia needs a National Anti-Racism Framework
Speech by the National Race Discrimination Commissioner, Chin Tan, ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Hello everyone, wherever you are in Australia. I join you from the lands of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation. I pay my respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. Welcome to you and thank you ... -
Children's Rights11 December 2019Speech
2019 Human Rights Day Oration
The Hon Peter McClellan AM QC 10 December 2019 I recently visited the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. It is a confronting but moving experience. It is a memorial to the people the allies believed it necessary to kill to win the war. They were also intent on emphasising to the world that they had the most powerful weapon ever invented. They chose to detonate the bomb in an urban area rather than ... -
Rights and Freedoms30 April 2019Publication
Free and equal: An Australian conversation on human rights (2019)
Through 2019, the Commission will promote conversation nationally to identify what makes an effective system of human rights protection for 21st century Australia? -
Commission – General13 March 2023Opinion piece
A national Human Rights Act needs to be introduced in Australia
Opinion piece by Commission President Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, first published in the Canberra Times. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees2 December 2020Publication
Inspections of Australia's immigration detention facilities 2019 Report
Human Rights Commissioner’s foreword For several decades, the Australian Human Rights Commission has expressed deep and longstanding concern about the human rights of people held in Australia’s immigration detention facilities. As a result of our most recent inspection process, that concern has deepened. Some of the issues of greatest concern to the Commission are as follows. A number of hotels ...