PWDA joins over 50,000 people calling on the Albanese Government to put human rights protections at the heart of Australian laws, with a petition for a Human Rights Act being handed to a cross-section of Labor, Greens and independent Federal MPs and Senators at Parliament House today.
The petition is organised by the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International Australia as part of the Human Rights Act Campaign, backed by 184 organisations including PWDA.
The evidence from Victoria, Queensland and the ACT show that Human Rights Acts improve people’s lives every day. Examples include preventing single mothers fleeing domestic violence from being forcibly evicted, helping people with disability access support services, and supporting children to access education.
An Australian Human Rights Act would provide a clear set of enforceable human rights protections so that federal government decisions and policies centre people. An Act would enshrine the common values of respect, dignity, equality and justice into Australian laws, and it would give people a tool to challenge injustice when their rights are violated.
The petition presentation comes after a renewed push for an Act by Andrew Wilkie MP and seconded by Dr Helen Haines MP in May. In May 2024, a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry called for an Australian Human Rights Act.
