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In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was Australia’s first federal human rights and discrimination law. Enacted shortly after the formal

Explore an opinion piece that celebrates 40 years of the Racial Discrimination Act by former Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphommasane.

Read an opinion piece about the High Court finding the government in breach of the Migration Act for refusing to grant a protection visa to a refugee.

Behind human rights is the still revolutionary idea that every human being is free and equal, that individuals own their own bodies and should be free to pursue their lives, opportunities and enterprise. Human rights provide the foundation for our liberal democracy, our market economy and our civil society. It was the signing 800 years ago of the Magna Carta, or Great Charter of 1215, by…

"Just in the last week, three of my closest friends and a relative have been diagnosed with cancer. This is not an uncommon story, to be – as a community – constantly in grief, loss and trauma." These words, from Janine Mohamed, chief executive of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives, will be familiar to our communities across Australia. As will her…

Charlie Hebdo would have risked being censored by the courts, but self-censorship is the reality of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The Abbott government should correct the festering sores of 35P of National Security Legislation and 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act together. Since the passage of Section 35P of the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill a number of journalists have decried the threat to free speech of jailing someone for revealing the details of an ASIO special intelligence operation. Their…

To advance human rights we need to promote a culture of respect for everyone exercising their choice and freedoms. On a day-to-day basis, human rights probably appear abstract for most Australians. The term often gets raised in discussion about how we are treating asylum seekers, or when we discuss disadvantage in the community. It is common for people to say "I have a right to" one thing,…

NEXT year is the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, signed reluctantly by King John at the ­demand of his rebellious barons in 1215. Buried in the middle of this foundational document of English constitutional law — setting out the single measure for wine and ale and the rights of widows on the death of their husband — are these words: “No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or disseised…

In pursuit of legitimately tackling isolated criminal behaviour, Parliaments are reversing the basic principle of liberal democracy by criminalising the exercise of human rights and prescribing lawful activity.