AHRC calls for long-overdue Human Rights Act

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) president Hugh de Kretser said Australia's human rights are being threatened by polarisation, division, rising racism, climate change, inequality and rapid technological change.

He called for a national Human Rights Act which will give people the power to take action if their rights are breached.

In its first ever annual assessment of Australia's human rights progress, AHRC provided a broad evaluation of how Australia is currently performing in terms of advancing and protecting human rights.

"We live in one of the safest, most stable and prosperous countries on the planet," De Kretser said.

"But that safety, stability and prosperity are not being shared equally. There are gaps and failures. And our success is fragile."

De Kretser said the assessment allows Australians to see where we are doing well, where we need to improve and where action is needed.

"Australia's history includes profound human rights failures. The shameful mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The criminalisation of homosexuality. Entrenched sex discrimination. The White Australia policy and more," he said.

The assessment covers six topics in detail: democratic freedoms, social cohesion and racism, economic justice, First Peoples justice, safety and equality and technological change.

On democratic freedom, the assessment said the government must introduce a federal Human Rights Act as a priority, which will improve federal discrimination laws, strengthen the role of Parliament in considering and protecting human rights and introduce a rights tracker to measure progress on human rights.

"This reform would protect people's rights in Australian law, build a culture that respects human rights and give people power to act if their rights are breached. It would strengthen trust in government and promote cohesion," De Kretser said.

"A Human Rights Act would list all the rights of all Australians in the one place in Australian law and protect those rights. It would require governments and public servants to properly consider and act compatibly with those rights when they make decisions, deliver services or develop policies."

The assessment also categorised the rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism against First Nations peoples and anti-migrant sentiment as urgent human rights issues.

"Racism harms people. It harms people's identity and self-esteem, their participation in public life, their opportunity to access to employment, education and housing and their health and wellbeing. Left unchecked it can lead to violence," he said.

"When we fail to protect a minority group from harm, we fail as a nation."

AHRC urged the government to implement recommendations provided by it in the National Anti-Racism Framework.

De Kretser also noted Australia's treatment of people seeking safety by sea as among the harshest in the world.

"We should abandon harmful policies like offshore processing and mandatory detention and promote safe pathways for people fleeing harm," he said.

He also flagged the warning signs of increasing concerns around intergenerational inequity in the country. This includes rising homelessness along with human rights challenges caused by climate change.

"But too many people live in poverty in Australia and safety net payments for those out of work remain far too low. We need a national plan to eradicate poverty, with robust measurement and clear targets," De Kretser said.

The assessment also marked gendered violence as an urgent human right issues. This especially included First Nations women and children, culturally and linguistically diverse women and children, people with disabilities and LGBTIQA+ people.