Much-needed restraints on law enforcement powers to decrypt people’s devices like mobiles and computers are welcome, the Human Rights Law Centre said today.
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Now that the Government has ripped away a medical solution it is more urgent than ever that they ensure every single person is resettled to safety.
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Today the Australian Government has stripped away a humane, transparent and doctor-led process for the refugees in its care on PNG and Nauru to access essential medical care.
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The Palaszczuk Government today introduced the Electoral and Other Legislation (Accountability, Integrity and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2019 that would limit political donations and spending in Queensland elections.
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This week all Australian Attorneys-General will have a historic opportunity to promote the rights of children with a commitment to raise the age at which children can be locked up.
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The full bench of the Federal Court of Australia today dismissed the Morrison Government’s appeal of a Federal Court decision that required it to consider Medevac applications of sick women and men in Nauru who are barred from engaging in telehealth consultations with Australian doctors.
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Proposed laws that would require real-time disclosure of political donations would strengthen democracy, but amendments are needed to ensure they operate fairly, the Human Rights Law Centre said today.
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South Australia’s Parliament should pass sensible and proportionate safe access zone laws, which are needed to promote the safety and privacy of women accessing abortion healthcare.
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The Human Rights Law Centre today urged the Australian Senate to reject the Morrison Government’s Medevac repeal bill – the Migration Amendment (Repairing Medical Transfers) Bill 2019 – which has been listed for debate in Parliament on Wednesday.
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The Full Bench of the Federal Court will today hear the Morrison Government’s appeal from a Federal Court ruling that requires the Government to consider applications under the Medevac laws where doctors provide reports based on detailed medical records.
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A new report by the panel of medical experts appointed by the Australian Government under the Medevac laws shows that the laws are working. The Medevac laws allow independent Australian doctors to recommend medical transfers for ill people detained offshore.
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The children of Tanya Day – Belinda, Warren, Apryl and Kimberly – have been awarded the Tim McCoy Award for their outstanding achievement in advocacy of human rights and justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria.
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Right now, across Australia, Aboriginal people are being killed by police.
We’d like to send our condolences to Kumanjayi Walker’s family. Just this weekend, Kumanjayi, a young 19 year old Aboriginal man, was shot and killed by police in his home.
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“We know that our mum died in custody because police targeted her for being drunk in public and then failed to properly care for her after they locked her up. We know that racism was a cause of our mum’s death. Both individual police officers and Victoria Police as a whole must be held to account. Without accountability, more Aboriginal people will die in custody.”
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Protest rights in Australia should be strengthened, not weakened the Human Rights Law Centre said in response to the Prime Minister’s announcement today that he will look to outlaw environmental campaigns targeting businesses.
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Australia’s human rights record is set to face intense scrutiny in 2020 when the Australian Government appears before the Human Rights Council in Geneva for its major four yearly human rights review.
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The Palaszczuk Government’s announcement today that it will limit political donations and spending in Queensland elections has the potential to be a game changing reform to strengthen Queensland democracy.
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Shocking stories of police brutally show the need for immediate action by the Andrews Government to provide Victoria’s police corruption watchdog (IBAC) the power and tools it needs to independently investigate serious police misconduct, so that police are not investigating their own.
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Queensland Parliament today passed a law that criminalises peaceful protest tactics and infringes Queenslanders’ right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
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The Morrison Government’s plans to implement a facial recognition scheme that endangered rights to privacy have been thwarted after a parliamentary review.
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A proposed law that would allow the Morrison Government to force a new form of income control onto thousands of people in the Northern Territory should be rejected, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a Senate Committee.
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A Senate Committee report released today shows that the Medevac laws are working as intended. The laws, passed in February 2019, allow doctors to recommend that people be evacuated from Nauru and Papua New Guinea to Australia for medical treatment.
There is a grave risk the Morrison Government is “stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia” if serious changes aren’t made to Australia’s social security system, the United Nations expert on poverty has warned.
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A proposed law that criminalises peaceful protest tactics would infringe Queenslanders’ right to freedom of expression, association and assembly, human rights lawyers told a parliamentary committee in Queensland.
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Tomorrow the case against former senior Australian Secret Intelligence Service officer, Witness K, is due to be heard in the ACT Magistrates Court.
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UN child rights experts have called on all Australian Governments to raise the age at which they can lock children up from 10 to 14 years and to ban the use of solitary confinement and the use of force including restraints on children.
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NSW parliament should not pass a proposed law that would unfairly and unreasonably impact on peoples’ freedom to peacefully protest.
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The Morrison Government must ensure that the rights of doctors to freedom of religion do not unfairly trump the rights of people to non-discriminatory health care, the Human Rights Law Centre said in its submission on the Religious Discrimination Bill.
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Journalists and whistleblowers will continue to face prosecution and jail time for revealing government misconduct and abuse, despite the Attorney-General’s announcement, warned the Human Rights Law Centre.
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NSW Parliament has passed historic laws today decriminalising abortion. Women in NSW will finally have the freedom to decide what is right for their bodies without fear of criminal prosecution.
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The Morrison Government’s attempt to force a new form of income control in the Northern Territory should be opposed, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a Senate Committee inquiring into the Bill.
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Laws that promote the safety, dignity and privacy of women accessing reproductive healthcare could soon be a reality in South Australia.
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The Australian Government has used its voice at the UN Human Rights Council to raise concerns of serious human rights abuses committed by Saudi authorities.
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The Morrison Government’s plan to impose drastic new regulations on unions is unnecessary, unreasonable and will undermine workers’ ability to stand together, the Human Rights Law Centre told a parliamentary committee today.
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A landmark, new standard has been set in international human rights guidelines with the expert UN Child Rights Committee recommending laws be changed to ensure that children under the age of 16 years "may not legally be deprived of their liberty".
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Leading civil society groups say caps on election spending are vital to restoring democracy and achieving greater political equality.
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This Friday 20 September, the Human Rights Law Centre team will take part in the Climate Strikes being led by incredible young advocates around the world who are stepping up to reclaim our future. We strongly encourage everyone who is able to join us on Friday and be a part of this inspiring movement.
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A new report by the Independent Health Advice Panel shows that the Medevac laws, which allow independent Australian doctors to recommend medical transfers for seriously ill people detained offshore, are working.
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The NSW Parliament must listen to the people of New South Wales and pass the bill to decriminalise abortion without further delay.
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The Medevac laws are an important safeguard that is helping to ensure vital medical treatment for seriously unwell refugees held by the Australian Government on Nauru and Manus, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell a Senate inquiry today.
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Press Conference: The family of Tanya Day will read a statement and take questions from the media at 3:45pm today in Melbourne.
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Watch the statement a 12 year old Arrernte/Garrwa child from central Australia delivered to the UN Human Rights Council.
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This week at the United Nations in Geneva, the Committee on the Rights of the Child is reviewing the Australian Government’s track record when it comes to upholding and protecting the rights of children.
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Tomorrow in Geneva, a 12 year old Arrernte/Garrwa boy from central Australia, will give a heartfelt speech at the world’s peak human rights body with a simple message for Australian governments: stop sending 10 year old children to to prison.
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The Morrison Government’s plans for a facial recognition identification and surveillance scheme are dangerously overbroad, lack safeguards and could dramatically alter the freedom of ordinary people going about their daily lives.
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The Coroner investigating the death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day has released the CCTV footage of the moment when Tanya Day fell and hit her head when she was locked in a police cell in Castlemaine.
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Solitary confinement is an archaic way of treating people and is now known to inflict long term and irreversible harm. Today, in a damning report, the Victorian Ombudsman has called on the Andrews Government to prohibit in law the use of solitary confinement.
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The Morrison Government’s proposed Religious Discrimination Bill fails to strike a fair balance between freedom of religion and the rights of other people, the Human Rights Law Centre has warned.
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The Morrison Government’s plan to impose drastic new regulations on unions is unnecessary, unreasonable and will undermine workers’ ability to stand together, the Human Rights Law Centre, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and NSW CLC told a parliamentary committee.
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The coronial inquest into the death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, commences today.
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In the week before the inquest into Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day’s death in police custody, the Andrews Government has announced that it will abolish the offence of public drunkenness and replace it with an Aboriginal-led, public health response.
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The decision by the Berejiklian Government to delay voting on the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill in the Legislative Council displays a lack of respect for NSW women, the Human Rights Law Centre has said.
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The New South Wales Parliament has a historic opportunity to bring its 119 year old abortion laws into the 21st Century this week.
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Doctors, human rights lawyers and advocates have urged the Morrison Government to listen to expert advice about the need for doctors to be at the heart of medical assessments for sick refugees on Manus and Nauru, as the reporting deadline closes to the senate inquiry investigating the Medevac repeal bill.
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Where implemented, bans on sex-selective abortions inhibit women’s timely access to healthcare. Such a ban in NSW would undermine women’s health and autonomy, while doing nothing about the societal attitudes and structures that see women discriminated against in many facets of their lives.
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The NSW Legislative Council must remove abortion from the Crimes Act by passing the Reproductive Healthcare Reform Bill 2019 without further amendment or delay, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a parliamentary inquiry.
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The June 2019 Australian Federal Police raids on journalist Annika Smethurst’s home and the headquarters of the ABC highlight the need to rein in secrecy and mass surveillance laws that damage Australia’s democracy, the Human Rights Law Centre will tell a parliamentary inquiry today.
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The passage of the NSW Reproductive Healthcare Reform Bill through the Legislative Assembly is a long awaited step towards decriminalisation of abortion in NSW.
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Parliament must reject the proposed amendments to the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill, which seek to make it harder for women to access reproductive healthcare than it already is under current law in NSW.
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The bill currently being debated to decriminalize abortion in NSW allows for a medical practitioner to perform an abortion after 22 weeks gestation where they have consulted with another medical practitioner and both consider the abortion appropriate in all the circumstances. It has been suggested that the bill should be amended to reduce the gestation period to 20 weeks. This briefing note explains why that would undermine the reproductive health outcomes of women.
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More than 70 health, legal, community and women’s organisations have joined together today to launch an open letter calling on members of parliament to be on the right side of history, and vote in support of the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019 that will be brought before parliament this week.
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The New South Wales Parliament has a historic opportunity to bring its 119 year old abortion laws into the 21st Century.
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Today, the Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the Federal Government’s appointment of Mr John Southalan as the first-ever Australian independent examiner charged with investigating reported instances of corporate misconduct by Australian multinationals.
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The June 2019 AFP raids on Annika Smethurst’s home and the headquarters of the ABC should be the turning point to end law enforcement overreach and mass surveillance that damages Australia’s open democracy, the Human Rights Law Centre told a parliamentary inquiry.
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Newly obtained data shows that in one month, 403 strip searches were conducted on children at two youth prisons in NSW. Only one item – a ping pong ball – was found as a result of these strip searches.
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The New South Wales Parliament should demonstrate its commitment to women’s health and equality by passing a bill to modernise the state’s archaic abortion laws.
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We would like to congratulate the outstanding members of the Human Rights Law Centre community who have been recognised and awarded in the 2019 Australia Day Honours.
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Amidst reports last week of the extraordinarily high rate at which the Australian Federal Police accessed the communications history of journalists, the Human Right Law Centre, Digital Rights Watch and Access Now have called on the Morrison Government to urgently reform metadata laws.
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This week marks six years of suffering for around 800 men and women still detained indefinitely by the Morrison Government on Manus Island and Nauru.
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The Queensland Government’s decision to move kids out of police watch houses “as soon as humanly possible” is welcomed, but the Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Government to publicly commit to a long-term solution so that no child is warehoused in a police watch house again.
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The Australian Government should repeal laws that strip Australian dual nationals of their citizenship and place them at an unacceptable risk of the statelessness, family separation and indefinite detention, the Human Rights Law Centre said in a submission to a Parliamentary committee.
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The Human Rights Law Centre joined 14 other non-governmental organisations to express concern about the governments of Human Rights Council members attacking and discrediting UN experts when human rights abuses by Council members are called out.
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During NAIDOC week, the Human Rights Law Centre is joining the National Peak Body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) to call on the Federal Government to commit to retaining the Indigenous Legal Assistance Program (ILAP).
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The Human Rights Law Centre and Equality Australia have joined over 1300 non-governmental organisations from 174 countries in calling for the renewal of the UN role focusing on the rights of LGBTQ people around the world.
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King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Law Faculty have announced the launch of an internship program specifically for Indigenous students studying law at the university.
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People experiencing mental illness are being criminalised rather than supported in the community, the Human Rights Law Centre has said in a submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
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The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture announced they will visit Australia to shine a light on abuses in places of detention, including adult prisons, youth prisons, police lock-ups and immigration detention facilities.
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This week the United Nations heard a scathing statement about a discriminatory Federal Government parenting scheme that targets Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and single mothers.
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Overnight the United Nations Human Rights Council heard of the alarming rates at which Australian governments are imprisoning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
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Paying another company to run the Australian Government’s offshore detention centre on Manus Island will not end the suffering of the men still trapped on the remote island, the Human Rights Law Centre said today in response to reports the Morrison Government will terminate Paladin’s contract once another company is appointed.
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Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva overnight to call out the Morrison Government’s continued cruel treatment of over 800 people still held on Nauru and Manus Island.
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The Coroner in the inquest into Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day’s death in police custody has agreed to look at whether systemic racism played a role in Ms Day’s treatment and ultimate death.
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Human Rights Law Centre Executive Director Hugh de Kretser recently returned from Stanford University where he participated in the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders.
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Yesterday, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that the Australian Government has to consider applications for refugees on Manus and Nauru made under the Medevac laws that are made in line with standard Australian medical practices.
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UN experts have once again urged the Australian Government to immediately provide healthcare to over 800 refugees in its care on Manus and Nauru and transfer those identified as requiring urgent care to Australia.
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Human rights champion and former Socceroo Craig Foster delivered a powerful speech at our annual fundraising dinner in Melbourne on 24 May 2019. Download Craig’s speech here.
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Developments in technology should not come at the cost of our human rights, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the United Nations’ independent expert on poverty.
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Another man held by the Australian Government on Manus Island attempted suicide yesterday amidst an unprecedented medical crisis on Manus and Nauru. More than 50 incidents of attempted suicide and self-harm have been reported among the refugees on Manus and Nauru in the weeks since Federal Election.
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In collaboration with international NGOs, the Human Rights Law Centre has written to UN member countries to plea for the UN’s human rights mechanisms to be adequately funded.
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Australian Federal Police raids on journalists and news outlets are part of a damaging trend of attacks on press freedom and democracy in Australia, said the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Western Australia and South Australia must decriminalise abortion and put in place laws that promote safe access to reproductive healthcare, the Human Rights Law Centre said in submissions to separate reviews in South Australia and Western Australia.
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To strengthen democracy and trust in politics, the NSW public must know who is influencing political decisions, the Human Rights Law Centre stated in a submission to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.
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After six years of offshore detention there is an unprecedented medical crisis on Manus and Nauru. Men and women, who have been detained by the Australian Government, are experiencing a wide range of serious health conditions ranging from people who are acutely suicidal, to people with serious heart conditions that cannot be treated on the islands.
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I woke up this morning thinking of the men and women still held by the Australian Government on Manus and Nauru after six long years.
Thinking of First Nations people, LGBTIQ communities, migrant communities and others.
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Australians can be justifiably proud of our democratic institutions and culture. We have a strong, inclusive electoral system based on the idea of a universal suffrage. But we can’t take our voting rights for granted.
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Tonight’s Four Corners investigation, Inside the Watch House, raises serious questions about whether the Queensland Government is breaching its own laws by warehousing children in police cells designed for adults.
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The Australian Council of Social Service, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Human Rights Law Centre today welcomed Labor’s election commitments that would protect and encourage public advocacy in the community and charity sectors.
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On World Press Freedom day the Human Rights Law Centre called on the Australian Government to fully protect whilstleblowers who act in the public interest and expose misconduct, corruption, human rights abuses and other wrongdoing in government.
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The NSW ProChoice Alliance today launched its NSW abortion decriminalisation campaign in Sydney as peak legal, health and community organisations signalled a commitment to have abortion removed from the NSW Crimes Act and regulated like any other health procedure.
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The hearing in the coronial inquest into Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day’s death in police custody continues today, as new data shows that at the time of Tanya Day’s death in 2017, Aboriginal women were 10 times more likely to be targeted for public drunkenness than non-Indigenous women.
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The third directions hearing into the tragic death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, will be held on Tuesday 30 April.
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People in prison in Western Australia were subjected to close to 1 million strip searches over the past 5 years, a shocking report by the Independent Inspector of Custodial Services has found.
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Last night, in a damning attack on the Australian Government’s offshore refugee camp on Nauru, the Former President of Nauru, Sprent Dabwido, said the agreement with Australia was a mistake, describing it as a ‘deal with the devil.’ Mr Dabwido likened the policy, under which the Australian Government has indefinitely detained refugees on the tiny island nation for up to six years, to ‘torture.’
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The Human Rights Law Centre will today provide a submission to a Northern Territory Parliamentary Committee supporting landmark reforms to youth justice laws, however arguing that the Government should follow through with its promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
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On the anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, over 80 Aboriginal, health, human rights, housing, legal and women’s organisations are calling on Premier Andrews to abolish the offence of public drunkenness – a key recommendation of the Royal Commission.
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Lawyers for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange confirmed overnight that they have received a warrant and a provisional extradition request from the United States. The US indictment charges Assange with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for his role assisting whistleblower Chelsea Manning to leak US government information including evidence of civilian deaths and potential war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Today, in a landmark decision, the High Court confirmed that women have the right to safely and privately access reproductive healthcare without being accosted and intimidated. Sensible laws that prohibit harassment outside abortion clinics are here to stay.
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Laws that promote the safety, dignity and privacy of women seeking reproductive healthcare have been upheld by the High Court of Australia.
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Today at 10:15am the High Court of Australia will issue its judgment in response to a challenge to Victoria and Tasmania’s safe access zone laws.
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The Human Rights Law Centre condemns the Morrison Government’s decision to disband the Indigenous Legal Assistance Program – ignoring its own Government-commissioned report and 50 years of strong evidence.
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The Human Rights Law Centre joined community organisations to call on the Parliament not to rush to pass more income tax cuts before the elections, and to reverse those already legislated to go to high income-earners after 2020.
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In response to the Report of the Senate Inquiry into ParentsNext, including its trial and subsequent broader rollout, a broad coalition of service providers, human rights bodies, peak bodies, researchers and advocates today calls time on ParentsNext.
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The Morrison Government cannot delay scrapping its discriminatory ParentsNext program, with a Senate Inquiry finding that the program is causing “anxiety, distress and harm” for many parents, including for women escaping violence.
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National Congress, APO NT, ACOSS, NTCOSS and Human Rights Law Centre condemn the Morrison Government’s announcement today that it will force people in the Northern Territory under income management to use the cashless debit card, saying it will continue discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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Aboriginal and human rights organisations today welcomed the Australian Medical Association’s call for all states and territories to raise the age when children can be held criminally responsible to at least 14 years.
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Tanya Day’s family is calling on Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney General Jill Hennessy to end deaths in custody by changing the law in Victoria.
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The second directions hearing in the coronial inquest into Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day’s death in police custody will commence today.
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The second directions hearing into the tragic death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, will be held on Tuesday 19 March.
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The Morrison Government has failed to sign on to an International Women’s Day statement at the United Nations calling for access to safe abortions, comprehensive sexuality education and sexual reproductive health.
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The Supreme Court today overturned the sentence of a 12 year old Aboriginal boy caught up by Western Australia’s draconian mandatory sentencing laws.
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On International Women’s Day the UN will hear that the Australian Government is penalising single mothers with babies as young as six months through a punitive program that is making life harder for parents.
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, used her address to the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council to highlight some of the world’s worst human rights abuses and called out the Australian Government’s treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum.
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The safety, wellbeing and dignity of women seeking reproductive health care in Western Australia will be at risk over the next 40 days, as anti-abortionists commence a 40 day picket for Lent.
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Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, who has spent nearly six years detained by the Australian Government on Manus Island, overnight addressed the UN Human Rights Council to highlight the Morrison Government’s inhumane treatment of people seeking asylum.
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Key national organisations have banded together to oversee and ensure the timely and orderly assessment of applications for medical transfers under the “Medevac Bill” by creating the Medical Evacuation Response Group (Medevac Group).
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Over the last three years Anna Brown, Lee Carnie and the rest of the HRLC team helped secure many important reforms, won a number of landmark legal cases, and helped to shift community attitudes in partnership with LGBTIQ+ community organisations.
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The Human Rights Law Centre couldn’t do what we do without the generous support of our pro bono partners. Congratulations to the Victorian Bar pro bono awards celebrate the significant pro bono contribution of Victorian barristers.
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The Human Rights Law Centre is excited to support the establishment of Equality Australia, Australia’s first national LGBTIQ+ legal advocacy and campaigning organisation to continue the unfinished business of achieving equality for LGBTIQ+ people.
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History has been made with the Palaszczuk Government’s Human Rights Bill passing the Queensland Parliament today. Queensland now joins Victoria and the ACT as the third Australian jurisdiction with a Human Rights Act or Charter.
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Since joining the Human Rights Law Centre, Anna Brown has been at the forefront of nearly every major reform for LGBTI people in recent years.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations have told a Senate committee inquiring into the Federal Government’s ParentsNext program that it should recommend scrapping the program. The Government’s punitive ParentsNext program is making life harder for mums with babies as young as six months.
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In response to tonight’s Four Corners episode, Criminalising women, legal and human rights organisations are calling on the Andrews Government to drastically cut the number of women being criminalised and imprisoned in Victoria.
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The inquest into the death of 23-year-old refugee Omid Masoumali on Nauru will commence in the Coroners Court of Queensland in Brisbane on Monday 25 February.
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Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, who has spent nearly six years detained by the Australian Government on Manus Island, was overnight awarded the prestigious Martin Ennals Award.
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Transgender people across Western Australia are celebrating today, following the WA Parliament finally removing outdated laws forcing them to divorce the person they love in order to update their birth certificate.
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Refugee and human rights organisations rejoiced today as the House of Representatives overturned 90 years of tradition and a toxic debate to vote authoritatively to deliver medical care to the refugees who have spent almost six years detained offshore.
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Amid delays to evacuations and more court proceedings on behalf of sick refugees, lawyers have called on the Federal Government to allow desperately needed reform to the offshore medical transfer process.
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Since joining the Human Rights Law Centre, Daniel Webb has tirelessly fought for the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum. Now, after seven years, he is taking a year-long break from his role to work on government transparency and anti-corruption initiatives in the Pacific region with Transparency International.
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A punitive Government parenting program is making life harder for mums with babies as young as six months, and raises questions about compliance with Australia’s sex and race discrimination laws.
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Queensland’s Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee has given the thumbs up to the creation of a Human Rights Act. The Committee tabled its report last night and a final vote will take place in the Parliament in the coming months.
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A Government proposal to address the medical crisis engulfing critically ill refugees detained offshore has been firmly rejected as window dressing on the existing unconscionable process which has seen 12 people die in offshore detention in the past five years.
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Australia’s first national LGBTQI+ legal advocacy and campaigning organisation Equality Australia, welcomed today’s pledge by the Andrews Government to provide in principle support to funding counselling and support services for survivors of ‘gay conversion therapy’ and establish an expert working group to draft legislation to prohibit conversion therapy.
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Lawyers, doctors and caseworkers welcomed the news that all of the critically sick children detained by the Australian government on Nauru were now receiving the medical care they need in Australia and the remaining children would be resettled in the US.
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The Government’s proposed new laws to enhance the Home Affairs Minister’s powers to strip citizenship from dual nationals would unnecessarily place Australians and their children at risk of statelessness and harm, the Human Rights Law Centre has warned a parliamentary committee this week.
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Shocking stories of police brutality, misconduct and malicious prosecution revealed over the past 48 hours show the need for immediate action to hold Victoria police to account.
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Lawyers, advocates and victims of police abuse are again calling on the Andrews Government to take action and introduce an independent body to investigate police misconduct, as horrific new cases of police brutality come to light.
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Serious human rights abuses in the overseas operations of some of Australia’s most prominent companies have been highlighted in a major report by the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Australia’s national security and intelligence agencies must be more accountable and transparent, the Human Rights Law Centre has told an independent national review.
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A big thank you to all of our supporters and partners for another fantastic year of human rights impact.
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At ANZ’s annual general meeting in Perth this morning, questions will be asked of CEO Shayne Elliott about the bank’s failure to compensate Cambodian farmers pushed off their land to make way for an ANZ-funded sugar plantation.
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Survivors and LGBTQI+ legal advocacy body Equality Australia, have welcomed the recent changes to the ALP’s platform on religious “conversion therapy”, saying the shift away from a focus on criminalisation to broader strategies in partnership with affected communities will provide better long-term outcomes for LGBTQI+ survivors.
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This week, you can double your human rights impact. Donations to our Human Rights Week Appeal will be matched - dollar for dollar - by our appeal sponsors. With your help, we need to raise $200,000 in one week to power the changes we will fight for in 2019.
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Today’s announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison that the religious freedom review report will be released, has prompted calls for stronger federal protections from discrimination for LGBTIQ+ people.
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Western Australia’s Independent Inspector of Custodial Services today released a damning report into the circumstances surrounding a young Aboriginal woman who gave birth alone in a prison cell.
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Launched today at NSW Parliament House, Say it loud: Protecting Protest in Australia, criticises recent attempts by governments to undermine protest rights and outlines ten principles to better protect our rights.
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics released data last week that shows governments across Australia are now forcing more than 3,600 women into prisons. This marks an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year - more than double the rate of men’s, which increased by four per cent.
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Doctors, lawyers, healthcare groups and domestic violence services joined community organisations today to deliver an open letter calling for the NSW Parliament to recognise the right to safe and legal abortion access in the state.
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The Morrison Government has proposed a Bill which legal experts and LGBTI groups say would entrench unfair and outdated discrimination against lesbian, gay, bi and trans students, resulting in a stalemate with Labor and the Greens.
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A bill tabled in the South Australian Parliament today would promote the right of all South Australians to control their bodies by removing abortion from the state’s criminal statute books. (Photo credit: Sharise Birse)
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Lawyers and advocates from across Victoria have welcomed the Andrews Government announcement of a Royal Commission into police misconduct, but say the Andrews Government should immediately establish an independent Police Corruption & Misconduct Division within IBAC.
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Anna Brown, Co-Chair of the Equality Campaign and Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the delay by the Australian Parliament is a blow to students and their parents seeking certainty ahead of the new year.
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Queensland women will finally have the freedom to decide what is right for their bodies with the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 coming into force today.
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New laws to address forced labour in the supply chains of Australian companies passed today in Parliament, but human rights advocates say they don’t go far enough. The Modern Slavery Act will require large Australian companies and organisations to report annually on steps they are taking to address forced labour.
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Today the NT Parliament passed new laws that are a significant step forward towards equality for LGBTI Territorians. It’s been almost a year since the Federal Government passed marriage equality. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for all Australians due to an outdated and unnecessary law that meant transgender people couldn’t change the gender on their birth certificate without being forced to divorce the person they love.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the passing of the electoral funding bill, which, after consultation with charities and not-for-profit organisations, is vastly different from the initial flawed proposal that would have stifled vital public advocacy by charities.
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Exemptions which allow religious schools to turn away transgender students or sack gay teachers should be removed in the wake of an urgent inquiry conducted by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee.
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Queensland’s proposed Human Rights Act should be improved with some simple amendments, the parliamentary committee reviewing the Palaszczuk Government’s legislation has been told today.
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Federal laws should be amended to protect students and staff from discrimination, the Human Rights Law Centre said today in its submission to the Senate committee reviewing laws that allow faith-based schools to discriminate against LGBTIQ people.
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To mark the anniversary of the release of the Royal Commission into Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory’s final report, the Change the Record Coalition including human rights organisations is calling on the NT Gunner Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility and get children out of harmful youth prisons.
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At the same time as children and their families are being medically evacuated from Nauru, it’s been reported today that Canstruct, a Queensland company, is set to make in the order of $150 million in earnings from the Australian Government for running the Nauru detention centre.
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This week marks one year since Australians overwhelmingly voted ‘Yes’ to the question of whether LGBTI Australians can marry the person they love.
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The NT Government has introduced new laws that will help heal the harm caused by discriminatory laws against LGBTI people. NT’s expungement laws, which come into effect today, and the introduction of legislation to reform outdated birth certificate laws are two steps towards achieving justice and equality for all.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the electoral funding bill that is to come before the Senate today, which is vastly different from the initial proposal that would have stifled vital public advocacy by charities.
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In an open letter to Attorney-General Christian Porter, leading legal academics and antidiscrimination law practitioners have strongly criticised aspects of the proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (SDA) designed to deal with discrimination by religious schools against LGBT students.
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Don Dale is ablaze almost one year since the Royal Commission recommended it be closed. While the Northern Territory Government accepted all 226 recommendations from the Royal Commission, Shahleena Musk, senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said that the Gunner Government has been all words, yet little action.
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The Australia Government is today challenging the Federal Court’s power to order urgent medical evacuations of acutely unwell men, women and children from Manus and Nauru.
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Despite reports today that all children and their families will finally be evacuated from Nauru and amidst mounting public pressure to end offshore detention, it’s also been reported that Canstruct has had its contract to run the Nauru detention centre renewed.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has submitted a report to the United Nations Child Rights Committee showing that Australian governments are failing to protect the rights of vulnerable children. Australia is due to front the Child Rights Committee in Geneva in February, where the Government’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be measured. The HRLC’s report, ‘Justice for Children’, will inform the assessment of Australia.
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The Human Rights Law Centre cautiously welcomed reports today that all children and their families will finally be evacuated from Nauru but warned that the evacuations must happen immediately.
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The Palaszczuk Government will today table in Parliament its long-awaited human rights legislation to protect fundamental rights for all Queenslanders like the right to education, privacy, freedom of speech and the protection of children.
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"With this prosecution, the Government is trying to send a message to all public servants that if they dare to speak up about corruption or wrongdoing, the government will come down on them like a tonne of bricks. For a healthy democracy, we want people speaking up when they see something wrong," said Hugh de Kretser.
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A major report confirms that religious conversion therapy and related practices are pervasive in many faith communities in Australia and causing real harm to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.
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The Human Rights Law Centre believes in a future where human rights are universally understood, upheld and protected. We secure law and policy change that eliminates inequality, abuse and injustice and builds a society grounded in decency, compassion and respect.
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The leaked copy of the Morrison Government’s bill to protect students from discrimination has raised concerns and a push for more consultation with the community.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has been working with the Equality Campaign and LGBTI community organisations to advocate for the removal of outdated exemptions from anti-discrimination laws which allow religious schools to expel LGBT students and fire LGBT teachers.
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LGBTI groups, parents of trans and gender diverse children, teachers, leaders and allies are in Canberra to call on parliament to amend outdated anti-discrimination laws to ensure all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people are treated with fairness and equality.
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The decision from Australia’s Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, to impose targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against five Myanmar military officers responsible for human rights violations committed by units under their command has been welcomed by the Australian Council for International Development and the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Legal experts and human rights advocates today condemned Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s refusal to resolve the urgent medical emergency for children on Nauru when he ruled out negotiating with Labor and the crossbench.
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The Western Australian Government has an historic opportunity to do away with outdated and unnecessary laws that prevent trans and gender diverse people from being recognised as who they are, according to a submission by Transfolk of WA together with the Human Rights Law Centre.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed changes recommended by a Parliamentary Committee into proposed national electoral laws, which are a further step towards rolling back proposed legislation that would have stifled vital public advocacy by charities.
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Queensland women will finally have the freedom to decide what is right for their bodies with the passing of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill in the Queensland Parliament last night.
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People in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities struggling under the Australian Government’s racially discriminatory remote work-for-the-dole program would be left with less money to survive if a Bill before Parliament passes.
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Today 47 organisations and leaders called on the Morrison Government to amend outdated anti-discrimination laws to ensure all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people are treated with fairness and equality.
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63 mothers, fathers and children permanently separated between Australia and indefinite offshore detention on Manus and Nauru have taken their case for family reunion to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the Australian Government’s new strategy for the abolition of the death penalty, but warned that further action is needed to avoid the risk of another tragedy like the deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
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Every person deserves the right to be who they are. LGBT people are not wrong or broken, and religious conversion therapies that try to ‘cure’ them are harmful.
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From today transgender Victorians will be able to stay married to the person they love when they change their birth certificate to reflect who they are. The Andrews Government eliminated an anomaly in Victoria’s birth certificate laws that requires anyone wishing to change their gender to be unmarried.
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Today the Sydney Morning Herald released the 20 recommendations from the Religious Freedom Review headed by Phillip Ruddock, leaving LGBTI advocates and human rights experts concerned about future discrimination for LGBTI people.
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Laws that protect the dignity, safety and privacy of women seeking reproductive healthcare should be upheld, the High Court will hear in a case set to begin in Canberra tomorrow.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed new changes to proposed electoral laws that had originally threatened to shut charities out of public policy debates, yet called for further improvements in a submission to a Parliamentary inquiry.
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Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities struggling under the Australian Government’s racially discriminatory remote work for the dole program would be worse off under a proposed new penalty system, a Senate Committee inquiry has been told.
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The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed new changes to proposed electoral laws that threatened to shut charities out of public debates about laws and policies.
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The Australian Government should immediately end its engagement with Myanmar’s military and impose sanctions on abusive military generals, the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Council for International Development said in a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council overnight.
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“As the Australian Government sits here on this Council, professing its commitment to human rights, it is indefinitely imprisoning 102 children in its offshore refugee camp on Nauru,” Daniel Webb told the UN Human Rights Council.
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The Australian Government should not be allowed to pick and choose what detention facilities can be scrutinised under the UN anti-torture treaty, the Human Rights Law Centre said in a submission to the Human Rights Commission.
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A dark chapter in Australia’s history has closed for gay, lesbian and bisexual Australians, their friends and families. Today the Western Australian Parliament joined all states and territories in passing laws to allow people charged under unjust homosexual laws to have the convictions removed from their criminal records.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has launched a report calling for stronger protections from hate speech and hate crime in Victoria. End the Hate: Responding to prejudice motivated speech and violence against the LGBTI Community reveals how current laws and policies are failing to protect LGBTI people from hate crime and hate conduct and outlines how the tide can be turned with 23 recommendations for reform.
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The Australian Government should immediately end military ties with Myanmar, Australia’s foremost international human rights and development organisations jointly said today. They called on the Australian government to impose targeted sanctions on military commanders responsible for atrocities committed against ethnic Rohingya, and to press for an international mechanism to assist future prosecutions.
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The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has used her maiden speech at the UN Human Rights Council to condemn the Australian Government’s indefinite offshore detention regime.
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The Andrews Government has pushed divisive anti-association laws through the lower house of Parliament today. The laws will give police excessive powers to issue ‘anti-association notices’, telling people – including children as young as 14 – who they can and can’t be friends with or spend time with.
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The Queensland Parliament should demonstrate its commitment to women’s health and equality by passing a bill to modernise the state’s woefully outdated abortion laws the Human Right Law Centre said in a submission to a parliamentary committee today.
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Laws that protect the dignity, safety and privacy of women seeking reproductive healthcare should be upheld, the Human Rights Law Centre has argued in submissions accepted this week by the High Court.
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Ten faith-based family violence services have made a public pledge to provide inclusive and non-discriminatory services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender diverse and intersex (LGBTI) people in Victoria. Anna Brown, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, welcomed the pledge and its significance.
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Australian governments must put in place life-saving Custody Notification Services in every state and territory to address one of the most significant human rights issues in Australia – the preventable deaths in custody of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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The Government’s new modern slavery legislation will not be effective in combating forced labour unless stronger compliance measures are implemented, the Human Rights Law Centre said today.
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The Queensland Parliament should demonstrate its commitment to women’s health and equality by passing a bill that would update the state’s woefully outdated abortion laws.
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New laws proposed by the Department of Home Affairs would create a massive database of photos of millions of ordinary Australians, including children, from passports, state and territory drivers’ licences and more.
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The Human Rights Law Centre believes in a future where human rights are universally understood, upheld and protected. We secure law and policy change that eliminates inequality, abuse and injustice and builds a society grounded in decency, compassion and respect. We are currently recruiting for two people to join our diverse team who have a strong, shared commitment to creating a better, fairer Australia.
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Human rights lawyers are calling on WA Corrective Services Minister, Francis Logan, to categorically prohibit solitary confinement for children, in the wake of a report by the Independent Inspector of Custodial Services into alleged ill-treatment at the notorious Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre.
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A new nationwide campaign “My ID, My Identity” is calling on states and territories to support trans and gender diverse people to be recognised as who they are. Currently in some states, people can only change the gender on their birth certificate if they are unmarried, if they’ve had invasive surgery on their reproductive organs and are over 18.
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“The Australian government’s refugee policies have been internationally condemned as putting lives at risk. Businesses, including airlines, that actively facilitate and profit from this system are complicit in abuse and risk exposing themselves to serious reputational liability.”
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Young people, who are most likely to feel the long-term effects of today’s political decisions, should be allowed to vote from the age of 16, the Human Right Law Centre said today in a submission to the Australian Parliament’s electoral committee.
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Stronger oversight and compliance measures are needed to ensure the Australian Government’s modern slavery legislation is effective in combating forced labour, the Human Rights Law Centre told a Senate Inquiry today.
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The Queensland Coroner has found that the death of Hamid Khazaei, a 24 year old man indefinitely detained by the Australian Government on Manus Island, was “preventable” and that if he was evacuated to Australia for medical treatment sooner he would have survived.
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This week marks the two year anniversary since the horrific images of child abuse in Don Dale youth prison were beamed across the nation, leading to the Northern Territory Royal Commission.
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Ethan and his mum Sarah outside South Australian Parliament to support the passage of birth certificate reforms.
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The Australian Government has been urged to improve its track record on women’s rights overnight by an expert UN Committee on women’s rights.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women made its criticism after a robust review earlier this month to assess Australia’s progress on ending discrimination against women.
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The Victorian Government will today introduce chilling new laws to restrict the ability of Victorians to freely spend time together.
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People in Queensland who have convictions for historic consensual same-sex activity can now apply to have their criminals records removed through the LGBTI Legal Service.
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Thursday 19 July will mark five years of limbo and suffering for over 1650 men, women and children indefinitely imprisoned in the Turnbull Government’s refugee camps on Manus Island and Nauru.
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The Queensland Parliament has the historic opportunity to bring its woefully outdated abortion laws into the 21st Century with the Queensland Premier today proposing welcome new laws to remove abortion from the criminal code.
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The UN’s expert committee on discrimination against women has raised a series of concerns about the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer women and girls in Australia.
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Overnight, the UN expert on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia delivered a major report condemning the rise of toxic and hate-filled refugee and migration politics around the world. The report makes specific reference to the cynical politics surrounding the treatment of refugees in Australia.
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The Human Rights Law Centre has today asked the High Court to review a decision by the Northern Territory Court of Appeal regarding an Aboriginal man who was charged 28 times for breaching misguided and discriminatory alcohol laws.
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Indigenous advocate, Keenan Mundine, a former youth prisoner and principal consultant of Inside Out Aboriginal Justice Consultancy, has travelled to Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council about the Turnbull Government’s failure to stop ten year old children being sent to prison.
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The Australian Government will face intense scrutiny of its treatment of women and girls in next week at the United Nations.
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Northern Territory women have had 12 months of better quality healthcare since abortion laws were reformed last year, however the Northern Territory Government is yet to finish the job.
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Attorney-General Christian Porter has approved the criminal prosecution of a former Australian spy and his lawyer for their role revealing that the Australian Government had bugged the East Timorese cabinet room during sensitive negotiations about oil and gas revenue.
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Following the UN Human Rights Chief’s condemnation of Donald Trump’s brutality to children at the US border, the Turnbull Government’s indefinite detention of 134 refugee children has been called out at the UN Human Rights Council overnight.
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Stronger oversight and compliance measures are needed to ensure the Government’s new modern slavery legislation is effective in combating forced labour, the Human Rights Law Centre said today.
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Australian governments should respect a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body by removing abortion from criminal laws the Human Rights Law Centre told the UN Human Rights Council in a statement delivered in Geneva overnight.
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Charities and unions will largely be exempt from the foreign agent register if recommendations from a parliamentary committee’s inquiry into foreign influence are acted on.
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Australian governments should end the routine strip searching of women in prison the Human Rights Law Centre has told the UN Human Rights Council in a statement delivered in Geneva overnight.
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The Trump administration has announced that it will quit the UN Human Rights Council, effective immediately. Daniel Webb, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, who is in Geneva for the current session of the Human Rights Council, said the move was widely expected by advocates and diplomats and is the latest step in the United States’ retreat from human rights and multilateralism.
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For the first time in 15 years, women attending the Surry Hill’s reproductive health clinic did so today without being harassed, intimidated or filmed.
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The Australian Government has an opportunity to play a critical role in addressing the violence and discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people face across the globe, the Human Rights Law Centre told the UN Human Rights Council today.
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The Turnbull Government’s second session as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN body responsible for protecting the rights and dignity of people all over the world, will begin in Geneva tomorrow.
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The Queensland Government’s budget, which was handed down this week, features $2.3 million of funding over four years for the state’s Anti-Discrimination Commission to help it administer the Human Rights Act that the Government will soon be introducing.
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Transgender people in Queensland will have the dignity of living their true lives, following a significant birth certificate reform passed by the State Parliament tonight.
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Women in NSW will no longer be forced to run a gauntlet of abuse and harassment just to see their doctor after the NSW Parliament today passed a bill to create safe access zones around abortion clinics.
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