Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Category: Auslaw

  • Sex Discrimination Act amendments – crucial, but flawed

    By Adam Fletcher Last month the Government introduced a Bill amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status, as well as participation in a same‑sex relationship. It is currently the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry, the Castan Centre’s submission to…

  • Thermal coal exports killing our future

    Guest Blogger: David Ritter A moment has been reached in our national history where the prosperity and wellbeing of Australia are at threat. Radical plans to expand coal exports endanger our most precious places including the Great Barrier Reef, and stand to make a major contribution to tipping climate change out of control. But in…

  • Children’s Ground: A model that could end intergenerational poverty in Australia

    By Claerwen O’Hara, Castan Centre In-House Intern Short and long videos of our event with Children’s Ground can be found at the bottom of this article. Children’s Ground is an innovative organisation that works with children in communities that are devastated by intergenerational poverty and inequity. While the model has been inspired and reinforced by…

  • Jeopardising access to justice for people experiencing mental illness

    Guest Blogger: Catherine Leslie, Mental Health Legal Centre For many people with mental health issues in Australia, infringements on human rights and inequality are everyday lived experiences through forced psychiatric treatment and detention and restrictions on their ability to manage their own affairs.  The many social and economic disadvantages they encounter mean that free independent…

  • Rainbows in the Court Room: How the Law Can Protect Our Environment

    Short and long videos of our event with David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia, can be found at the bottom of this article. By Asher Hirsch By the end of the century, scientists predict that without serious policy changes the world’s temperature will rise by four degrees Celsius. According to the World Bank, the effects…

  • Refugee tribunal a check against the culture of no

    By Adam McBeth The Australian, on March 18, 2013, reported (paywall) on Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) figures that showed a remarkable 74 per cent success rate in the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) since July 2012 among people who arrived by boat. That figure is inflated somewhat by omitting cases that were withdrawn before a hearing…