Human Rights Act submission

Human rights are the rightful inheritance of all human beings from birth. Australia has a strong sense of human rights and freedoms, but people’s basic human rights are not very well protected in our law. While dominant groups enjoy relatively easeful access to their human rights in Australia, the most marginalised people in society, including children, are still gravely denied or restricted in access to the essentials needed to live with dignity, including far too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and children. This is unconscionable in a wealthy country. A well-resourced, inclusive, and comprehensive national Human Rights Act that uplifts the rights of children and minoritised people will be transformative in shifting longstanding disadvantage and deprivation of human rights. Good Shepherd asserts that social and economic rights are fundamental, and that children’s rights are human rights. This submission sets out Good Shepherd’s major priorities for addressing the existing ‘rights gaps’ for people from marginalised groups, ensuring that they are meaningfully included in the proposed law.