HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 10 DECEMBER - AN APPEAL FROM OUR COMMUNITY
It’s time to consider South Australia’s next chapter in a proud history of adopting
socially progressive legislation. We need a Human Rights Act to secure the basic
rights and freedoms applying to all our people regardless of their background or
belief, based on principles of dignity, equality and mutual respect.
Our State Parliament has responded to representations from hundreds of individuals
and community organisations. Earlier this year the Social Development Committee
(SDC) announced an Inquiry into the Potential for a Human Rights Act for South
Australia. The Inquiry is reviewing the effectiveness of current laws and mechanisms
for protecting human rights in South Australia and any possible improvements to
these mechanisms. Its report is due in the New Year.
We don’t have comprehensive legal protection for human rights in Australia. Only
certain human rights are protected across an inconsistent patchwork of state laws,
and many human rights are not protected at all. This leaves gaping holes in human
rights protection which entrenches inequality, discrimination, and the risk of rights
abuse, particularly for people in vulnerable circumstances.
A clear example is evidence published in the ‘Holding On To Our Future’ report
released by the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People in May,
2024. It reveals the shocking truth that 1 in 10 Aboriginal children are in state care in
SA. She found Aboriginal children are over-reported, over-investigated and overrepresented
in removals and long-term Guardianship orders. She wants Aboriginal
family and children rights to be better respected.
At the national level, a very extensive report from the Parliamentary Joint Committee
on Human Rights (PJCHR) was published in May this year. We now see our national
parliament take the case for human rights legislation seriously. The PJCHR report
recommends that we need:
• comprehensive and effective protection of human rights in legislation,
through the establishment of a Human Rights Act;
• a significant and ongoing commitment to national human rights education;
• requirements for public servants to fully consider human rights in the
development of legislation and policies.
Decent politicians, from all political perspectives, want our laws and administrative
policies and actions to be respected, understood and workable. People want fair,
responsible government where the public interest is the heart of decision-making.
Bringing human rights into legislation, at the core of public policy, reinforces the idea
that the public good is a constant goal of any administration and of all governments.
Today, on Human Rights Day 2024, three community based groups, the Rights
Resource Network SA, the SA Council of Social Service and the Australian Lawyers
for Human Rights have come together as the Coalition for Human Rights SA.
The Coalition groups have written to the Premier of SA, the Hon Peter Malinauskas,
seeking a meeting in the New Year to discuss the outcomes of the Social
Development Committee Inquiry. South Australians have proposed better protections
for their human rights, including their right to housing, the right to equal access to
health care and education. We are confident that the report will recommend
improving human rights provisions in our state’s laws.
Submissions and evidence taken by the SDC are available to the public at https://
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