Residents of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea have welcomed a decision by the Australian Government to accept a human rights complaint against mining giant Rio Tinto for investigation and conciliation.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has made bi-partisan recommendations for the scaling back of Australia’s controversial metadata retention regime.

Two of Australia’s leading human rights organisations - the Human Rights Law Centre and Amnesty International Australia - are calling on the Gutwein Government to prohibit the routine strip searching of children. The Tasmanian Government is currently considering laws that the two national organisations say miss the mark when it comes to the need to protect children from harm and prohibit routine strip searches.

A coalition of refugee organisations has condemned the federal government’s decision to slash support to people seeking asylum in the 2020-21 Budget. This decision, they say, puts over 100, 000 people, including around 16, 000 children, at further risk of homelessness and destitution.

Today 156 Bougainville community members have filed a complaint with the Australian Government against Rio Tinto for environmental and human rights violations caused by its former mine on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.

South Australian MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of creating safe access zones around abortion clinics, with the Health Care (Safe Access) Amendment Bill passing the lower house of the SA Parliament today.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal and human rights organisations are calling on Premier Andrews to ensure greater police accountability following recent concerning incidents of police violence.

The Human Rights Law Centre today said that human rights scrutiny of Victoria’s curfew was welcome and required.

The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the removal of Rio Tinto’s CEO, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, head of Corporate Relations Simone Niven and Head of Iron Ore Chris Salisbury following the company’s detonation of a 46,000 year old Aboriginal sacred site in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.

Human rights and legal organisations today welcomed proposals by the Australian Law Reform Commission to strengthen Australia’s corporate criminal laws in relation to human rights abuses committed by Australian companies overseas.

A long awaited report from a Parliamentary committee has recognised the need for significant legal changes to protect public interest journalism, however the recommendations don’t go far enough to ensure journalists are not sent to prison for doing their job.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not prosecute two police officers involved in the death of proud Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, despite the Coroner referring the police officers involved in her death for criminal investigation, saying she believed “an indictable offence may have been committed”.