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Questions submitted in advance of Australia’s Universal Periodic Review
By Marius Smith As Australia prepares to submit itself to the Universal Periodic Review over the next few hours, you can get an idea of what topics might come up by looking at the countries that have submitted questions to Australia in advance. More than a dozen countries have done so, and we have broken them…
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The World Reviews Australia’s Human Rights Record
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Andrew Forrest’s Healthy Welfare Card – A BasicsCard with added Human Rights?
By Adam Fletcher Last year mining magnate Andrew Forrest was commissioned by the Australian Government to conduct a review of Indigenous jobs and training. One of Forrest’s recommendations was a ‘Healthy Welfare Card,’ an idea which might be more familiar to readers in the form of the previous Government’s ‘BasicsCard’ (perhaps a new name was…
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Second Time’s the Charm – 2015 Review of the Victorian Charter
By Adam Fletcher Late last month, Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula tabled the Report from the second review of the State’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (the Charter). Thankfully, unlike the previous scheduled review in 2011 (conducted by a parliamentary committee), this one does not recommend the Charter be gutted. On the contrary, it…
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Australia’s bid for the UN Human Rights Council
By Sarah Joseph Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has announced that Australia is running for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the period of 2018 to 2020. The bid was originally made by the previous government, and has now been officially endorsed by this one. What is the Human Rights Council? The UN Human…
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A plebiscite on same-sex marriage would be inconsistent with children’s rights
By Paula Gerber The Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs is conducting an inquiry into whether Australia should have a plebiscite on same-sex marriage. It has received a total of 36 submissions from individuals and organisations, which are both for and against holding a national vote. The committee conducted public hearings on September 10.…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 