Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (Q A I) is an independent, community-based systems and legal advocacy organisation for people with disability in Queensland, Australia.
QAI mental health lawyers Jo Sampford and Niamh Fields presented at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatrist, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL) Congress 2018.
Find their presentations below:
26 November 2018
For immediate release
Human Rights Bill supported as offering welcome protection for vulnerable Queenslanders
Leading disability advocacy organisation Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI) strongly supports the introduction of a Human Rights Act in Queensland. In QAI’s submission, provided to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (Committee) today, we confirm our support for the passage of the Human Rights Bill and call upon the Committee to recommend accordingly.
QAI Director Michelle O’Flynn noted the important protections that this Bill includes for people with disability in Queensland. ‘We are particularly excited by the inclusion of the economic, social and cultural rights to education and health in the Bill’, Ms O’Flynn said today. ‘These are fundamental human rights that are not equitably enjoyed by people with disability and mental illness in Queensland.’
While strongly supporting the inclusion of the right to education, Ms O’Flynn notes that QAI’s submission is proposing that this right is differently framed. ‘There is now a wealth of research supporting the benefits of an inclusive approach to education for all students and it is the approach that has been committed to at an international level and by both state and federal government. It is important that the drafting of this clause reflects this commitment and requires commitment to it.’
QAI is hopeful that the Committee will recommend strengthening the Bill by including an independent cause of action and a broad range of remedies for breaches of the Act to ensure that the human rights are enforceable and meaningful. QAI also makes submissions calling for recognition of the right to reasonable adjustments to ensure people with disability can enjoy equitable access justice. QAI also emphasises the importance of not limiting the Act in any way in its application, to ensure it offers full protection to all Queenslanders, particularly the most vulnerable, including children and prisoners.
‘On balance, while we note that this Bill is not perfect and that human rights legislation will never be a panacea, we are thrilled by the proposed introduction of this legislation and strongly support its passage at the earliest opportunity,’ Ms O’Flynn said. ‘We are also very hopeful that this Bill will garner bi-partisan support. Human rights belong to us all – they are above politics.’
Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI) is an independent, community-based systems and individual advocacy organisation and a community legal service for people with disability. Our mission is to promote, protect and defend, through systems and individual advocacy, the fundamental needs and rights and lives of the most vulnerable people with disability in Queensland.
For more information, please visit the campaign website: humanrights4qld.com.au.
Media contact: Michelle O’Flynn and Emma Phillips: (07) 3844 4200
Information provided in this release is not intended to constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such. You should obtain your own legal advice before applying any information provided in this release to specific issues or situations.
EVENT DETAILS
Monday 10 December 2018 10:00am – 3:00pm
Ballarat Technology Park Central
110 Lydiard St South Federation University, School of Mines Ballarat (SMB) Campus Ballarat, Victoria 3350
DESCRIPTION
Seventy years ago, on 10 December 1948, world leaders came to together to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It has ever since shaped the delivery of community services in Australia, providing a common vocabulary and framework for understanding the role of citizens and individuals in shaping our legal and community sector systems.
Australia played a prominent role in shaping the Declaration, through the efforts of Colonel William Roy Hodgson, who was part of the eight person group – along with Eleanor Roosevelt – that drafted the original Declaration.
For this public session on World Human Rights Day we return to Hodgson’s place of education, the former School of Mines in Ballarat, now Federation University Australia, to remember and acknowledge the leadership role that Australia has played historically in championing human rights.
This is not the story of one man, however. The session will provide a platform for exploring the various ways in which the concept and operation of ‘human rights’ are playing out in Australian society.
With sessions focussing on contemporary law, disabilities, education and children’s rights, join community advocates, researchers, community sector, legal professionals, and citizens in discussing and planning for a future that honours the legacy of rights.
A collaboration between Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and the Collaborative Research Centre in Australian History, at Federation University Australia.
#HumanRights70 #StandUpForHumanRights
PROGRAM
Federation University’s Technology Park Central is a fully accessible venue. If you have any disability access or support requirements in order for you to participate in this event, please contact CRCAH@federation.edu.au
For any questions please contact CRCAH@federation.edu.au
Federation University’s SMB Campus is in the Ballarat Central Business District, at the end of Lydiard St South. It is within walking distance of the Ballarat Railway Station, follow this link for a map of the route from the Station. Street parking is available in surrounding areas, or in the nearby Central Square Carpar
For more information please visit Eventbrite and/or facebook.
Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI) thanks the Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors (Department) for tabling their review of the Forensic Disability Act 2011 (Qld) (FDA) on 9 October 2018 (FDA Review). We acknowledge that the FDA Review annexes the independent review of the Queensland Forensic Disability Service System prepared for the Department (FDSS Review) by the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology and thank the Department for facilitating that
review.
We take this opportunity to respond to the FDA and FDSS review.
Response by QAI to the review of the operation of the FDA – FINAL 20181109
We are encouraging Queenslanders to make submissions to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee in support of a Human Rights Bill. We understand this process can be difficult, time consuming and pose significant challenges for some resulting in important voices not being heard. The below link provides guides, resources and a submission making tool to simplify the process where possible.