Human Rights Law Centre

The Human Rights Law Centre condemns the Carroll Government’s Bill limiting access to open air in prison, which is a cruel attack on basic human dignity that violates fundamental rights. The Centre is calling on the Carroll Government to scrap the Corrections Amendment Bill 2026  (the “No Air in Prison Bill“), alongside a coalition of legal, human rights and First Nations groups.

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes whistleblower David McBride being granted parole by Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, and calls on the Albanese Government to implement whistleblowing law reform. McBride is a former Army lawyer who leaked documents to the ABC which led to important public interest journalism on war crimes in Afghanistan and was sentenced to almost six years’ imprisonment. McBride was the first whistleblower to be imprisoned in recent memory in Australia.

The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to show national leadership on youth justice, with new data showing racist youth justice policies are failing First Nations kids. All governments across Australia must change course on dangerous and discriminatory laws hurting First Nations children, families and communities.

Whistleblower Jeannie-Marie Blake, represented by the Human Rights Law Centre, is suing the Commonwealth over mistreatment she alleges she suffered related to her participation in the Robodebt Royal Commission. Ms Blake was a frontline Services Australia employee when she blew the whistle on Robodebt when the program was first piloted. The public servant later gave important evidence to the Royal Commission.

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the Albanese Government’s announcement that it will strengthen Australia’s modern slavery laws, including by introducing a new offence for companies that fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains.

More than 40 civil society groups are calling on Australian universities to protect the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and academic freedom on campus, declaring this moment a crisis for the protection of political expression within Australian universities.

The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Minns Government to legislate a Human Rights Act, to give human rights protections and benefits to every person in NSW. A NSW Human Rights Act would improve government laws and decisions by requiring the NSW Parliament to consider human rights when making laws and provide people with a powerful tool to challenge injustice.

The Albanese Government has rejected most recommendations of a major UN human rights review, including raising the age of criminal responsibility, legislating an Australian Human Rights Act, and policies which would improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people seeking asylum.In January, 120+ countries called on the Albanese Government to better protect the rights of First Nations people, children, refugees, and others in the community.

The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Malinauskas Government to strengthen whistleblower protections, after a new report from the South Australian Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) called for stronger whistleblower protections and an independent whistleblower protection authority.

A delegation of local mayors and councillors from across the country, joined by their residents with lived experience and supported by legal advisors from the Human Rights Law Centre, will converge in Canberra today calling on the Albanese Government to provide a pathway to permanent residency for refugees who have built homes in Australia after surviving offshore detention.