The ACT Government announced this week that it would create a new pathway for complaints about a breach of the Human Rights Act 2004 to be made to the ACT Human Rights Commission for confidential conciliation.
The Human Rights Commission promotes and upholds human rights in the ACT through community education, advice to government, and handling complaints.
Currently, complaints about human rights breaches must be taken to the Supreme Court, a process that Kerry Weste, president of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR), described as “prohibitively expensive, complex, and inaccessible to most Canberrans, especially those experiencing disadvantage”.
“Unfortunately, this has left people whose rights have been breached without access to effective remedies,” Ms Weste said. “These reforms will deliver an easier, cheaper and simpler pathway for everyone to access remedies by making a complaint to the ACT Human Rights Commission where conciliation can offer meaningful solutions that make a real difference in people’s everyday lives.”
This commitment forms part of the ACT Government’s formal response to the inquiry into Petition 32-21, ‘No Rights Without Remedy’, which was tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly this week.
The petition is led by a coalition of Canberran and Australian community organisations including the ALHR, the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS), the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), and Civil Liberties Australia (CLA).
Legislation to give effect to this reform will be developed in early 2023, Tara Cheyne, ACT Minister for Human Rights, said.
“This reform will complement existing avenues for raising concerns under the Human Rights Act, including a standalone cause of action in the Supreme Court, by creating an accessible pathway for all members of the community,” Ms Cheyne said.
“I look forward to developing this new human rights complaint pathway with the community’s valuable input next year.”
Human rights lawyers and social advocates applauded the ACT Government’s commitment to immediately legislate for the accessible complaints mechanism.
Ms Weste said: “These reforms will make it far simpler and easier for all Canberrans to protect their human rights, and will enable the ACT to meaningfully hold all behaviours up to the standards set out in the Human Rights Act.”
The petition also called for amendments to enable the transfer of complaints to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) for resolution, where conciliation at the Human Rights Commission is unsuccessful.
However, Ms Weste said, the ACT Government only agreed “in principle” to this aspect of the amendments, citing the need to consider the complexities of such a proposal and resourcing implications. Ms Cheyne indicated that this option will be considered once the conciliation mechanism has been in place for a period of time.
Ms Cheyne thanked all those involved who championed the No Rights Without Remedy petition and participated in the subsequent inquiry by the Standing Committee.
Ms Cheyne said the government is committed to strengthening the culture of human rights across government and the community.
“The ACT is a leading jurisdiction in the protection and promotion of human rights,” she said.
“Protecting our human rights is everyone’s business. This ongoing engagement with our human rights legislation is a positive and welcome sign of the mature human rights culture in the ACT.”
Dr Gemma Killen, Acting CEO of ACTCOSS, said: “We are pleased to see the ACT Government commit to addressing the serious gaps in our human rights system and deliver an accessible human rights complaints mechanism here in Canberra.
“Those community members who are most vulnerable to human rights breaches have also historically been those least likely and able to access remedies and accountability mechanisms through the Supreme Court. We look forward to seeing human rights legally enforced here in the ACT, and commend the ACT Government for ensuring that all people will have the right to live safely, freely, and with dignity.”
