101 cases
of how Human Rights ACTS make our lives better
No matter who we are or where we are, our lives are better when we all treat each other with fairness and respect and when we can all enjoy our rights and freedoms. Human Rights Acts and Charters promote respect for human rights and give people power to take action if their rights are breached.
The 101 cases set out here highlight the benefits Human Rights Acts and Charters have brought to people in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland. These cases also highlight the need for a national Human Rights Act, as well the need for Acts or Charters in states and territories which do not yet have them.
We designed this resource to inspire people to use Human Rights Acts and Charters where they exist in Australia; and to join with others in calling for a national Human Rights Act and Charters in every state and territory.
Click here to add your name to the call for a Human Rights Act.
CASE STUDIES
Aboriginal children jailed in adult prison: Human Rights Act in action
Bendigo mosque and freedom of religion: Human Rights Act in action
Will Ingram and the right to equality: Human Rights Act in action
Queensland and the right to housing: Human Rights Act in action
The right to education for children seeking asylum: Human Rights Act in action
Victorian pandemic laws: Victorian Charter of Rights in action
101 Cases
Human Rights Acts and Charters Make Our Lives Better.
Here are 101 cases showing how
Case 80: Eviction of family prevented using fair hearing and other arguments
The Director of Housing applied to evict a family living in public housing.
Case 81: Eviction of parents and newborn twins prevented
A refugee from Somalia was unable to attend a bail hearing due to the birth of his twin daughters.
Case 82: Reducing the risk of harm and mistreatment in police cells
Victoria Police conducted a major human rights project to assess risks arising from the detention of people in police cells across Victoria.
Case 83: Young woman caring for siblings protected from eviction
Following the death of her father and incarceration of her mother, a 23-year old woman agreed to be the guardian of her three younger siblings.
Case 84: Eviction of young man from refugee background prevented
A young Somali refugee moved to Australia after having lived in Kenya for eight years.
Case 85: Supporting women experiencing family violence
A female family violence worker at Women’s Health West has stated that the Charter had a prominent impact in not only the way in which human rights issues are framed and tackled but also the practical realisation of these rights across various sectors.
Case 86: Supreme Court finds that children held in maximum security prison were deprived of their human rights
After riot damage to a youth justice centre, the Victorian Government set up a new youth justice centre in a unit in the maximum security adult Barwon Prison and started transferring children as young as 15 there.
Case 87: Preventing a young man’s eviction into homelessness
Abdi Mohamed, a 21 year-old man living in accommodation provided by a transitional housing provider was given a 120 day notice to vacate in accordance with the provider’s ‘youth tenancy policy’.
Case 89: Victorian Government abandons proposal to give health officers the power to detain people based on what they might do
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Victorian Government introduced legislation into Parliament which, if passed, would have allowed officers, authorised under public health legislation, to detain people based on the officer’s belief about what the person might do.
Case 97: Refusal to issue driver licence overturned
A woman living in Wodonga in Victoria needed to travel across the Murray River to Albury in NSW for medical treatment.
Case 98: Freedom of movement and liberty considered in delay of release of individual quarantining after COVID-19 positive test
A man was required to isolate after testing positive for COVID-19.
Case 99: Transparency and accountability around the introduction of a curfew
Michelle Loielo owned a restaurant in the Mornington Peninsula, part of Greater Melbourne.
Case 100: Hard lockdown of public housing towers breaches human rights
In 2020, after COVID-19 cases began emerging in nine high-rise public housing towers in inner north Melbourne, the Victorian Government imposed, without notice to residents, an extremely hard lockdown, detaining around 3,000 people in nine public housing towers.