Page 2258 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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Auditor-General’s report No 2 of 2019—government response
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (4.12), by leave: I am pleased to speak to the government response to the Auditor-General’s report No 2 of 2019, Recognition and implementation of obligations under the Human Rights Act 2004.
The ACT has a proud record as the first state or territory in Australia to introduce a legislative bill of rights, our Human Rights Act 2004, which protects the rights of all Canberrans. Our Human Rights Act inspired Victoria to enact its own Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities in 2006, and just this year Queensland has enacted a Human Rights Act. While a national bill of rights remains elusive, this growing consensus of states and territories that recognise the importance of human rights is powerful and is already having an impact on the kinds of nationally consistent laws that are negotiated with the commonwealth.
Within the ACT, our Human Rights Act works to protect and promote human rights in a number of ways. One of these is to impose obligations on all public authorities to respect human rights in decision-making. The endgame is to enshrine a culture which prioritises the protection of human rights in the ACT public sector. Human rights considerations should be part of our everyday business and at the forefront of our minds when we make decisions that affect the people in our community.
To keep building that culture of human rights, we need to remain vigilant about our statutory obligations and the frameworks we have for meeting these requirements. To that end, I welcome the report of the Auditor-General on the recognition and implementation of our human rights obligations.
The report examines the way human rights considerations are reflected in the day-to-day operations of three areas of government. The audit focused on community corrections and the human rights unit, both within the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, and the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre within the Community Services Directorate.
The report recognises a range of positive steps already taken by these agencies to implement human rights obligations. It acknowledges that both directorates have taken steps to build a human rights culture through whole‐of‐directorate strategic and organisational policies and documents, and that policies and documents in each directorate implicitly, and in some instances explicitly, recognise and articulate the importance of human rights to the activities of the directorate. The report also found that the human rights unit provides effective advice and support to ACT government agencies to consider and recognise in their obligations as public authorities, by reviewing all proposed government bills and providing advice to agencies on human rights compatibility.
The report makes five constructive recommendations regarding further actions that can be taken to strengthen a culture of human rights in the ACT. The government
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