Civil and Human Rights

This guide contains links to Internet resources and documents in the area of federal civil and human rights law, as well as providing links to other guides and directories which contain material on State and Territory and overseas law. More detailed guides are also provided for topics of current interest to the federal Parliament.

• Legislation
• Court and Tribunal decisions, law reports etc
• Key National Bodies
• Key Publications
• Links to Other Australian Sites (State organisations, Pathfinders, Directories etc)
• Overseas Sites
  
  
• Topics
  • Bill of Rights
  • Censorship
  • Discrimination (General)
  • Discrimination (Disabilities)
  • Discrimination (Race)
  • Discrimination (Religious)
  • Discrimination (Sex)
  • Discrimination (Sexuality)
  • Privacy
  • Rights of Children
  • State of Emergency

Legislation

• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986
  See also other federal legislation listed under topics below eg Privacy
• Links to State laws (Equal Opportunity Commission of South Australia)

Court and Tribunal decisions, law reports etc

Australia

• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Decisions until 1999
  After 1999 these hearings were conducted by the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Service.
• Federal Magistrates Service. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity page
• Royal Women's Hospital v Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria [2006 VSCA 85] (20 April 2006)
  Discusses the relationship between international human rights law and domestic law

Overseas

• Commonwealth and International Human Rights Case Law Databases
  Provides summaries of recent human rights decisions from national courts in Commonwealth of Nations jurisdictions, as well as international human rights courts. Many of the cases summarised are unpublished decisions which are not readily available in other jurisdictions
• Netherlands Institute of Human Rights case law database.   Decisions of UN Committees and the European Court of Human Rights
• European Court of Human Rights
• UN Human Rights Committees decisions

Key National Bodies

• Attorney-General's Department Human Rights page
• Australia. Parliament. Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances
  Scrutinises all disallowable instruments of delegated legislation to ensure their compliance with non-partisan principles of personal rights and parliamentary propriety
• Australia. Parliament. Senate Scrutiny of Bills Committee
  Scrutinises all bills to ensure their compliance with non-partisan principles of personal rights and parliamentary propriety
• Australian Civil Liberties Union
  The ACLU investigates and takes up matters involving arbitrary government actions, police conduct, freedom of speech, freedom of association, censorship of the internet, censorship of books and films, and invasions of privacy; gives general advice on citizens rights by phone and through its annual publication Your Rights, and campaigns for law reform
• Australian Human Rights Commission
• Australian Human Rights Information Centre (University of New South Wales Human Rights Centre)
• Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
  A network of Australian lawyers interested in furthering awareness and advocacy of human rights in Australia. ALHR promotes the practice of human rights law in Australia and works with Australian and international human rights organisations to achieve this aim
• Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade human rights page
  Newsletters; Media releases; Speeches & statements to international bodies; Australian Human Rights Manual; National action plan
• Electronic Frontiers Australia
  Promotes civil liberties of users and operators of computer based communications systems. Is concerned with both censorship and privacy issues
• Human Rights Council of Australia
  A non-government organisation promoting human rights internationally and within Australia
• Liberty Victoria (Victorian Council for Civil Liberties)
• Monash University. Castan Centre for Human Rights Law

Key Publications

For further items, search the Parlinfo database and select ParlInfo Search for journal articles, books and library publications, and Media for newspaper articles and media releases. Although full text searchable, for copyright reasons some material on Parlinfo may be available only to those using the Parliament House computer network.

Journals

• Australian journal of human rights
  Early issues are available full text

Encyclopedias

• Halsburys laws of Australia. Title 80. Civil and Political Rights
  Commercial publication. Not available outside Parliament
• The Laws of Australia (Law Book Co). Title 21. Human Rights
  Commercial publication and not available outside Parliament without a subscription

Journal articles, reports etc

• 2010 Australia's Human Rights Framework ( Attorney-General's Dept)
• 2006 Australia's fifth report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights January 1997 - June 2006
  Has a substantial survey of implementation of human rights provisions to be found in several human rights treaties
• 2003 Provisions of the Australian Human Rights Commission Legislation Bill 2003 (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee). Report and submissions
• 2001 Collection of articles on human rights from the University of NSW Law Journal 2001 vol. 24 no 3
  including: Recognising universal rights in Australia / Hon Daryl Williams; Human rights and the second century of the Australian Constitution / George Williams; An Australian Rights Council / George Winterton
• 2000 The Icon of liberty: the status and role of Magna Carta in Australian and New Zealand law (D. Clark)

Links to Other Australian Sites (Pathfinders, Directories etc)

• Australian Human Rights and Civil Rights Index
  Maintained by Victorian barrister Victor Perton. Has links to Australian and overseas sites
• via WorldLII
• via Commonwealth Parliamentary Library International Law page
  Contains information relating to the implementation of human rights issues into domestic law

Overseas Sites

• Links to the text of international human rights instruments (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
• Guide to UN Documentation on human rights (Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University)
• via University of Queensland Law Library - Part of the WEBLAW coooperative indexing project, this is an excellent guide to key international human rights sites
• AUSTLII Human Rights Law Resources
  This database contains materials including articles, conference papers, reports concerning international human rights law. The resources in this database originate from a variety of sources
• via Cornell University (mainly US with some international links)
• via Hieros Gamos (US civil rights)
• via Hieros Gamos (International and non-US human rights) Has links to international treaties
• via Commonwealth Parliamentary Library Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Group human rights page
• via University of Canterbury (UK law)
• Interights
  INTERIGHTS, the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, is an international human rights law centre established in 1982 to support and promote the development of legal protection for human rights and freedoms worldwide through the effective use of international and comparative human rights law
• Great Britain. Dept for Constitutional Affairs. Human Rights Unit
  The Human Rights Unit's main responsibility is to ensure the successful implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporates into UK law rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. The Unit also maintains and develops the UK's position under various human rights treaties

TOPICS

Bill of Rights

This is now a separate guide and available at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/law/billofrights.htm

Censorship

Legislation

• Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Part 9, sections 122-130 (Radio and television broadcasts)
• Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995
  • National Classification Code
• Broadcasting Services Amdt (Online Services) Act 1999 no. 90 (Internet censorship)
• Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) (No. 2) Act 2004
  Offences relating to possession and distribution of offensive material, including racial hatred material, on the Internet, radio, television etc
  • Explanatory Memorandum and Bills Digest
  • Senate Committee report
• Protecting Australian Families Online Direction no. 1 of 2007.
  A direction from the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to the Australian Communications and Media Authority to conduct a trial of software which can filter illegal and inappropriate content (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, no. GN 25, 27 June 2007, p. 1705-07)
• Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Act 2007.
  Amends the Broadcasting Services Act to establish a new regulatory framework for Internet content hosts and content services delivered over convergent devices eg live streamed content sevices and mobile phones

Sites

• Arts Law Centre of Australia classification and censorship page
  Brief overview of censorship law with links to other sites
• Chopping List: Banned and Censored Movies in Australia
  Unofficial list. Regularly updated with links to other similar sites. Starts from 2002.
• Caslon Analytics Censorship and Free Speech Guide
  A commercial research firm whose site provides legal and historical information on censorship
• Classification Board The national government agency for classification of publications
• Internet censorship in Australia
  A wealth of documents and links from Electronic Frontiers Australia, a mainly anti-censorship lobby group

Publications

• 2002 Censorship in Australia: regulating the Internet and other recent developments (G. Griffith)
• 2001 Censorship and classification in Australia (Kim Jackson, Commonwealth Parliamentary Library).
  Describes the major features of the Australian censorship system, as well as providing access to a range of relevant web sites and documents
• 2001 A Review of the Classification Guidelines for Films and Computer Games: Discussion Paper (Office of Film and Literature Classification)
• 2001 Nazis, porn and politics: asserting control over Internet content [The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999] (C. Penfold)
• 2000 Internet content control: perspectives on the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999
  Collection of articles from the University of NSW Law Journal
• 2000 Inquiry into the Provisions of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment Bill (No.2) 1999 (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee) - Inquiry into non violent erotica classifications

Discrimination (General issues and topics not covered below)

• Criminal Code section 80.2 (urging violence against racial, religious, national or political groups)
• Discrimination bulletin (Blake Dawson)
  Regular overview of state and federal discrimination law issues
• The Law Handbook plain English guide to Commonwealth legislation on discrimination
• Australian & NZ Equal Opportunity Law Library (CCH) (Major textbook on discrimination law. Available only to computers recognised as having a subscription to this CCH product).

   

• 2003 Provisions of the Age Discrimination Bill 2003: Report and submissions (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee)
• 2003 Change and continuity: review of federal unlawful discrimination legislation (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Legal Section)
• 2000  Inquiry into the Anti-Genocide Bill 1999 (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional References Committee)
  This Bill would extend the definition of genocide to include attacks on groups based on gender, sexuality, political affiliation and disability
• 1999 Moving towards a substantive conception of the anti-discrimination principle: Waters v Public Transport Corporation of Victoria reconsidered (G. Patmore)
• 1998 What price dignity?: remedies in Australian anti-discrimination law (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1998 Discrimination law and its abuses (A. McIntyre)

Discrimination (Disabilities)
Australia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 17 July 2008

• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Disability Rights homepage
• Attorney-General's Department Disability Discrimination page
• Australia’s initial report to the United Nations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Productivity Commission Report into the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (2004)
• Making rights count (Australian Law Reform Commission report no. 79, 1996)
  Review of Commonwealth disabilities legislation

Discrimination (Race)

• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975
  This act was passed by the Whitlam Government, using the race powers, to override Queensland laws which discriminated against indigenous peoples, including the use of courts on reserves where the same official acted as judge and prosecutor. No federal Government ever enforced this act
• Attorney-General's Department racial discrimination page
• Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) (No. 2) Act 2004
  Offences relating to possession and distribution of offensive material, including racial hatred material, on the Internet, radio, television etc

Discrimination (Religious)

• 2000 Conviction with compassion: a report on freedom of religion and belief (Australia. Parliament. Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade)
•  Annual report on international religious freedom (US Dept of State)
  Describes the status of religious freedom in each foreign country, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies to promote religious freedom around the world. It is submitted in compliance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (US)(P.L. 105-292)
• International Association for Religious Freedom
• International Religious Liberty Association

Discrimination (Sex)

Legislation

• Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999
  Formerly the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986
• Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987
• Sex Discrimination Act 1984

Sites

• Attorney-General's Department Sex Discrimination page
• National Women's Justice Coalition
• Office for Women
  Information on women's human rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) & milestones in sex discrimination 1871-1983
• Women's Rights Action Network Australia

Publications

• 2008 The effectiveness of the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984 in eliminating discrimination and promoting gender equality (Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs)
• 2001 From functionality to aesthetics: the architecture of transgender jurisprudence (AN Sharpe)
• 2001 Inquiry into the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2000
  Report from the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee into a Bill designed to prevent certain fertile women from accessing reproductive technologies
• 2000 'Yakking giants': equality discourse in the High Court (K. Dunn)
• 2000 Sexual harassment and the corporation in Australia and Japan: the potential for corporate governance of human rights (C. Parker & L. Wolff)
• 1999 Sex discrimination legislation in the States and Territories (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1999 The Elusive promise of equality: analysing the limits of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1994 Equality before the law: justice for women (Australian Law Reform Commission report no. 69) Volume 1 --- Volume 2

Links to other sites

• Women and the law web resources (University of Sydney Law Library. Part of the WEBLAW cooperative indexing project)

Discrimination (Sexuality)

Legislation

• Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994
• Workplace Relations Act 1996 (ss. 3; 104; 151; 222, 568, 659, etc)
• Age of Consent laws

Sites

• Understanding your legal rights - same sex
  NSW Attorney-General's Dept webpage dealing with gay and lesbian legal issues. Covers NSW and some federal law
• International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Publications

• 2007 Same-sex: same entitlements (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission)
• 2002 No Mr Muehlenberg, there's no sex with labradors: flat-earthers come round to the ordinary family lives of sexual outsiders (D. Sandor)
  Detailed overview of same sex law reform
• 2000 The Effects of including gay and lesbian soldiers in the Australian Defence Forces: appraising the evidence (A. Belkin)
• 2000 Gay hate related homicides: an overview of major findings in New South Wales (Australian Institute of Criminology)
• 1999 Same sex relationships: some Australian legal developments (M. Kirby)
• 1997 Inquiry into sexuality discrimination (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Committee)
• 1994 Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Bill 1994: bills digest (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1994 Strange bedfellows: the UN Human Rights Committee and the Tasmanian Parliament (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)

Links to other sites

• Gay and lesbian rights (University of Canterbury, UK)
• Sexuality, Gender and the Law. Worldwide legal resources from the University of Chicago Law School
• GayLawNet
  Includes links to national legislation worldwide

Privacy

Legislation

• Privacy Act 1988 (Covers federal government records and personal information held by most large organisations but excludes small businesses and political parties). Note that some States and Territories also have privacy legislation which covers their own government information, etc.
• Data-Matching Program (Assistance and Tax) Act 1990
• Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 (amended the Privacy Act 1988 to cover large non government organisations)
  • Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000
    Text of Bill, Explanatory Memorandum; Bills Digest; Second Reading Speeches; etc
  • House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Afairs advisory report on the Bill (June 2000)
  • Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee inquiry into the Bill (October 2000)
  • Opinion 3/2001 on the level of protection of the Australian Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 (European Commission. Article 29 Data Protection Working Party)

Sites

• Allens Arthur Robinson (Law Firm) Privacy website
  Very detailed and current information on privacy law. Includes a chronology of privacy legislation
• Attorney-General's Department Privacy page
• Attorney-General's Department Telecommunications Interception and Surveillance page
• Australian Privacy Foundation
  A private lobby group advocating personal privacy protection
• Do not call register
  Information on telemarketing legislation from the Dept of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
• Electronic Frontiers Australia
  A non-profit national organisation representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms and rights
• Privacy Commissioner
  The Commonwealth government regulator

Publications

• Graham Greenleaf's Web Pages (University of New South Wales). Many of the author's writings on privacy and computers are published here
• Privacy Law and Policy Reporter. Full text archive of back issues
• Privacy update (Blake Dawson)
  Regular overview of privacy law. Select "Privacy update" from the main menu
• Roger Clarke's Dataveillance and Information Privacy Pages
• The Law Handbook plain English guide to Privacy and Freedom of Information
  
  
• 2008 ALRC Report 108: For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice
• 2006 Identity cards (Parliamentary Library e-brief)
• 2005 Unauthorised photographs on the internet and ancillary privacy issues: discusion paper (Standing Committee of Attorneys-General)
• 2005 Report of the review of the regulation of access to communications (Tony Blunn)
• 2005 Getting in on the Act: the Review of the Private Sector Provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Commissioner)
• 2004 The Provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Legislation Amendment Bill 2004 (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee). Report & Submissions
• 2003 Essentially yours:  the protection of human genetic information in Australia (Australian Law Reform Commission report 96)
• 2003 Report of review of named person warrants and other matters [under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979] (Tom Sherman)
• 2002 Information privacy and health records (G. Griffith)
  Covers mainly NSW and federal law
• 2001 Valuing privacy: legal protections and exceptions
  Collection of articles from the University of NSW Law Journal
• 2000 Cookie monsters?: privacy in the information society (Report from the Senate Information Technologies Committee)
• 2000 Genetic non-discrimination, privacy and property rights (M. Stulic)
• 2000 The Provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Legislation Amendment Bill 1999 (Australia. Parliament. Senate. Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee)

Links to Australian privacy sites

• via AUSTLII

Links to overseas privacy sites

• via WorldLII
• via Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC)
• via Privacy International
  Includes text of the annual Privacy and Human Rights which surveys privacy laws around the world. The major focus of the surveys after 2002 has been to document the effects of anti-terrorism laws introduced after 11 September 2001 on privacy and civil liberty around the world.
  

Rights of Children

• Defence for Children International, Australian SectionLawstuff (National Childrens and Youth Law Centre)
  Legal rights for people under 18
  Extensive links to material on children and the law. Part of the WEBLAW cooperative indexing project
• 2003 Australia's second and third reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child
  Australia’s next report under the Convention on the Rights of the Child is due on 15 January 2008
• 1998 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - 17th Report (Australia. Parliament. Joint Committee on Treaties)
  
  
• International Bureau for Children's Rights
• UNICEF Child Rights home page

State of Emergency

Legislation

• Defence Act 1903. Division 4-The calling out of the Forces. Sections 50D+
  • Defence Force Regulations 1952. Part 3 Aid to civilian authorities. Regulations 11A+

  Recent amendments to the call out powers of the Defence Act include:

• Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2000 (Act no 119, 2000)
  • Explanatory Memorandum, Bills Digest, Second Reading Speech
  • Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills report
  • Senate Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Legislation Committee report and submissions
  • The Military call-out legislation: some legal and constitutional questions (M. Head)
• Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2005 (Act no. 3, 2006)
  • Explanatory Memorandum, Second Reading Speech
  • Bills Digest
  • Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committtee report and submissions

Publications

• 2005 Calling out the troops: disturbing trends and unanswered questions (M. Head). UNSW Law Journal, v. 28, no. 2, 2005, p. 479-506
• 2005 Call-out the guards: why Australia should no longer fear the deployment of Australian troops on home soil (N. Laing). UNSW Law Journal, v. 28, no. 2, 2005, p. 507-522
• 2005 'To execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth': the ADF and internal security : some old issues with new relevance (C. Moore). UNSW Law Journal, v. 28, no. 2, 2005, p. 523-537
• 2004 Army history: aid to the civil power
  Brief account of calling out the troops in 1890 and 1891
• 1998 Call out the troops: an examination of the legal basis for Australian Defence Force involvement in 'non-defence' matters (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1997 Troops as strikebreakers: use of the Defence Force in industrial action situations (Commonwealth Parliamentary Library)
• 1978 Orders calling out the troops relating to terrorist activities, 14 February 1978 (Special Gazette, no. S 30) and 20 February 1978 (revocation - S 33). Copies available on request from the Library