Australia

Recent Developments in the Australian Health Policy Further Undermine the Right to Health

Recent Developments in the Australian Health Policy Further Undermine the Right to Health

As a developed country, Australia has a generally high standard of health care. Various kinds of public expenditure support the health of the general population, particularly through Medicare’s bulk billing...
Indigenous Rights Litigation meets Global Climate Change in Queensland Australia

Indigenous Rights Litigation meets Global Climate Change in Queensland Australia

Indigenous rights are currently going head to head with global climate injustice in Queensland, Australia. An important and novel judicial review case is afoot in the Federal Court of Australia,...
A Backwards Step for Human Rights Law in Victoria: Bare v Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission

A Backwards Step for Human Rights Law in Victoria: Bare v Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission

In July 2015, the Victoria Court of Appeal, Australia, handed down a landmark decision in Bare v Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (‘Bare’). The Court held that Victoria’s Charter of Human...
Hopeful Developments in Family Violence in Australia

Hopeful Developments in Family Violence in Australia

In Australia, one woman per week dies from intimate partner violence. By October 2015, 62 women had died due to intimate partner family violence in the calendar year. There have...
Queensland Parliament Lights Up the Night for Human Rights

Queensland Parliament Lights Up the Night for Human Rights

Monday 14th September 2015 saw an exciting development on the legislative human rights front in Australia, as a coalition of NGOs, community groups and community members hosted a public launch...
External Processing of Refugee Claims: Problem or Part of the Solution? The Australian Experience

External Processing of Refugee Claims: Problem or Part of the Solution? The Australian Experience

European countries have expressed an interest in external processing of asylum claims, which would involve establishing asylum processing centres in other countries, most likely in North Africa. It is thought...
Indigenous Recognition, Human Rights, and the Purpose of the Australian Constitution

Indigenous Recognition, Human Rights, and the Purpose of the Australian Constitution

At some point in the next few years, Australians are likely to vote in a referendum to amend the Australian Constitution to address issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait...
Judicial Appointment of Women on the Decline in Canada and Australia

Judicial Appointment of Women on the Decline in Canada and Australia

While many countries have superficially committed to the goal of gender equality with a lot of noisy chatter about women on boards and women’s participation in politics, it appears that...
Racial Discrimination Act and Free Speech– Carte Blanche or Fair and Reasonable – Where are Human Rights in all This?

Racial Discrimination Act and Free Speech– Carte Blanche or Fair and Reasonable – Where are Human Rights in all This?

Professor George Williams has noted ‘the fact that freedom of speech receives no general protection in Australian law is not of itself and argument for introducing such protection’. Unlike in...
Valuing the Work of Community Lawyers’ to Resolve Systemic Problems – The Productivity Commission Report on Access to Justice Arrangements in Australia

Valuing the Work of Community Lawyers’ to Resolve Systemic Problems – The Productivity Commission Report on Access to Justice Arrangements in Australia

In the past decade or more in Australia, creeping managerialism and efforts to reduce funding of services under the guise of ‘fiscal belt tightening’ and efficiency have threatened and sometimes...
Rethink needed as new Australian High Court Justice appointment seems to maintain gender imbalance

Rethink needed as new Australian High Court Justice appointment seems to maintain gender imbalance

The appointment of Geoffrey Nettle QC, as the replacement for Justice Susan Crennan on the High Court of Australia when she retires next February calls, yet again, for a radical...
Improving the Law for Pregnant Women and Working Parents

Improving the Law for Pregnant Women and Working Parents

Earlier this year I wrote about the preliminary data that the Australian Human Rights Commission (“AHRC”) had published which showed the high levels of workplace discrimination encountered by women who...

Become A Contributor To The Blog