Entries by category: Law Reform in Action

The ‘The Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in Australia’  was released on 8 October 2009.  There is a summary included with the report.  The report is a large document and to read it online you need to click on the 'downloads' link. 

In December 2008 the Rudd Government asked the National Human Rights Consultation Committee to examine the protection and promotion of human rights and responsibilities in Australia.

The Committee conducted the most extensive consultation on human rights issues in Australia’s history, receiving more than 35,000 submissions and conducting over 65 community roundtables and public hearings across more than 50 urban, regional and remote locations.

The report contains 31 recommendations and provides important information about what we do well and assesses options for addressing the areas where we can do better.

Overwhelmingly, the report finds that Australians support the protection of human rights, however, most of the debate surrounds the way these rights are protected.  What the research has identified is that there are many views on how human rights and responsibilities should be protected, promoted and realised, including on the merits of a Human Rights Act.

Importantly, it has also shown that there are many other important ways to protect and promote human rights including, for example, through enhanced education and improved parliamentary scrutiny.

The Attorney-General released a public statement at the same time as the launch of the report which outlines the key findings and states the Australian government's intentions to carefully consider the Committee's report and outline its response in the coming months.

George Williams responded to the report with a piece in the SMH 'A clear voice crying dignity for our fellow beings' on 9 October 2009.

Numerous articles have been written in the media in response to the release of this consultation report.  You can do a search on Proquest Australia and New Zealand Newsstand, a database of fulltext newspaper articles.  You need to register as a client of the State Library.  Set dates to after 1 October 2009 and type in 'human rights and Brennan'.  (Just typing in 'human rights' will get too many hits.)

The report Invasion of Privacy No 120 was released on 14 August 2009 by the NSW Law Reform Commission. It examines the existing privacy laws in New South Wales and makes recommendations about reform.   In summary, the major recommendation is that as part of a uniform law initiative in Australia, New South Wales should amend the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) to provide a cause of action for invasion of privacy in the terms of the draft legislation appended to the report.

On the following day, David Marr wrote in the SMH of his concerns and objections to their findings and recommendations for reform.  In contrast, the Australian Privacy Council produced a media release supporting the findings of the Commission.

 This report is part of a wider reference and they are now turning their attention to the issue of access to personal information and whether existing legislation is adequate or is in need of reform.  The Commission has established a blog as a way of capturing the public's experiences of accessing information about themselves from Government agencies, some of which will be made public.

visit the  Privacy links on our Find Legal Answers Website for an overview of the existing laws protecting privacy.  Use the three tabs at the top of the screen, labelled 'read online', 'books in public libraries' and 'lawyer's tools'.  The online guides to privacy are simple, plain language factsheets that will help you understand what privacy is.  The resources in public libraries are  useful if you are looking for more indepth information.