PWDA joins 106 organisations and experts calling for an inquiry into Human Rights Act for NSW
Wednesday 22 October 2025
PWDA joins more than 100 organisations and individuals to endorse an open statement calling on all NSW Parliamentarians to support the establishment of a public inquiry into a Human Rights Act for New South Wales.
On Thursday 23 October 2025, the Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong MP, will introduce a private member’s Human Rights Bill. Human Rights Act for NSW – an alliance of 90 peak and community organisations working across NSW says the Bill puts forward a model that reflects long-standing laws already successfully operating in other states and is calling on the parliament to refer it for a comprehensive community consultation.
There has never been a better time for an inquiry into a Human Rights Act for NSW. Everyone in NSW should have the opportunity to have their say on how best to legally protect the dignity, security and interests of everyone in our State.
NSW is lagging behind. Human Rights Acts have already been passed in the Australian Capital Territory (2004), Victoria (2006) and Queensland (2019). Recent major inquiries at the federal level and in South Australia have both recommended that parliaments address gaps in the human rights protections afforded to people by introducing a comprehensive Human Rights Act.
The NSW Labor Platform, taken to the last election and endorsed again in 2024, unequivocally supports a ‘community consultation into the introduction of further legislation to better protect the human rights of NSW residents.’ When notice of the private member’s bill was given in March this year, the NSW Attorney General, the Hon Michael Daley MP, stated that the government is ‘open to considering the issue and working constructively’ on the proposal.
