Australia is the only Western democracy without a federal Human Rights Act, Bill of Rights or Charter, despite popular support for one. In 2023, the ALA launched a policy position paper entitled ‘A federal Human Rights Act: The case for a legislative human rights instrument in Australia’.

The ALA strongly supports the introduction of a federal legislative Human Rights Act, and this policy position paper makes the case for:

• why this reform is necessary;
• what human rights should be protected within a federal Human Rights Act;
• the elements which should underpin Australia’s federal Human Rights Act, with close reference to and analysis of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2022 proposed model; and
• how human rights acts and charters have been effective in state and territory jurisdictions in Australia, as well as in countries abroad, with a variety of case studies provided.

Read the full paper here.