History

“Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge”
- Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Human Rights Law Association was formed in 2023 as a forum for legal practitioners and scholars in Australia to promote human rights law as a discipline, in particular the law of human rights under:

  • the Human Rights Act 2004 in the Australian Capital Territory

  • the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 in Victoria and

  • the Human Rights Act 2019 in Queensland.

Because of the close relationship between human rights protections in Australia and New Zealand, the Association also seeks to support an awareness of human rights law under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

Queensland was, notably, the first Australian state to move towards legislative protection for human rights in a bill introduced by Premier Frank Nicklin in 1959. Although that bill lapsed with the 1960 election, its introduction was consistent with a historical push for human rights protection by both conservative and non-conservative governments worldwide at that time.

(Queensland, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 31 October 2018, 3184)