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Queensland Advocacy Incorporated

Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (Q A I) is an independent, community-based systems and legal advocacy organisation for people with disability in Queensland, Australia.

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Turning words into action: QAI has elected to be bound by the Human Rights Act 2019

QAI Media Release

6 October 2020

Image of official notification that reads “Human Rights Act 2019 Declaration of Public Entity (No. 1) 2020. 1. Notification: Pursuant to section 60 of the Human Rights Act 2019, I, Yvette D’Ath MP, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice declare that Queensland Advocacy Incorporated is a public entity and is subject to the obligations of a public entity under the Part 3, Division 4 of the Human Rights Act 2019.” Signed, Yvette D’Ath MP, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice.


QAI is excited to announce it has been declared a ‘public entity’ for the purpose of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) (HRA)! 

The passage of the HRA in Queensland was a significant milestone for this state and this nation. It is the first time this state has had dedicated legislation to protect the human rights of all Queenslanders. Queensland is the first Australian jurisdiction to protect the right to health and to establish an accessible complaints mechanism.  

“Human rights belong to everyone and are fundamental to an inclusive society,” QAI Director Michelle O’Flynn said today. “QAI has always operated within a human rights framework and endeavours to protect and defend the human rights of the most vulnerable Queenslanders, in particular Queenslanders with disability. 

“In becoming the first organisation to voluntarily opt-in to be bound by the HRA, QAI seeks to honour our commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and hopes to contribute to a broader human rights culture within our community,” Ms O’Flynn continued. 

 

So what does this mean for QAI? 

With uncertainty around who will be deemed a ‘public entity’ for the purpose of the Act, QAI has removed any ambiguity regarding its own obligations and is now legally bound by the substantive and procedural obligations under the Act. In other words, QAI must act and make decisions in a way that is compatible with human rights and must consider human rights when making decisions. If we have practices that do not comply with the standard required by the Act then we, like everyone, must do better. We welcome the opportunity to improve our practices and want to ensure we comply with the standard we campaigned so long to attain.  

“We hope others will join us in demonstrating their commitment to creating a society where everyone is treated with dignity, fairness and respect and where the inherent value of each person is acknowledged and protected,” Ms O’Flynn said. 

Media contact: Michelle O’Flynn, Director, QAI
Phone: 0481 381 528

  • 6 Oct, 2020
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Title: Know your Human Rights: A Guide to the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld). Drawn images below. First image is a person asking "I have human rights?". Second image is two people talking, the first asks "We all have human rights?", the second replies "and we all have the same rights". Third image is of the first person sitting at a table with a box labelled "Our Human Rights", there's a picture of the earth behind her and she is saying "making a fair world". Fourth image is the same two people walking down a street with "HUMAN RIGHTS" painted on the road in big letters; the people are saying, "They make our community fair and respectful to all of us".

A Guide to the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)

This booklet is an easy English guide to the new Queensland human rights legislation, which came into effect on 1 January 2020. The booklet covers what human rights are, what human rights are protected by the Act, who has human rights, who has to respect human rights, how human rights are breached and what to do if you feel your human rights have been breached.

 

Illustrations for the booklet were done by Cartoonist and Illustrator, Simon Kneebone and QAI would like to acknowledge his great talent and thank him for bringing this publication to life!

You can view the full PDF version of the booklet at the link below. If you would like a hard copy version of the booklet please contact our office on 07 3844 4200 or qai@qai.org.au. 

View Booklet

QAI would also like to extend our thanks to the Department of Social Services for providing the funding to make this publication possible as well as our Patron, His Excellency The Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Governor of Queensland.

  • 30 Jul, 2020
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Front page of the Human Rights Act 2019

How the New Queensland Human Rights Act Can Assist People with Disability

Emma Phillips, QAI’s Deputy Director and Principal Solicitor has written an opinion piece for the Australian Lawyers Alliance on how the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019 (the Act), which commenced on January 1 this year, can assist people with disability. The article goes through the individual human rights protected in the Act and how they may relate to those with disability specifically.

 

You can read the article here on the Australian Lawyer’s Alliance website.

  • 14 May, 2020
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Emma Phillips at lectern giving presentation

Emma Phillips Gave a Presentation on the Human Rights Act Qld and Disability

Emma Phillips, QAI’s Deputy director and Principal Solicitor, gave a presentation on February 7th to the Australian Lawyer’s Alliance called “Righting inhuman wrongs – How the new Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) can assist clients with disability and mental illness”.

You can view the slides from Emma’s presentation here.

  • 3 Mar, 2020
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Free and Equal: An Australian conversation on human rights – QAI Submission

QAI made a submission in October 2019 to the Australian Human Rights Commission on Free and Equal: An Australian conversation on human rights.

QAI’s Recommendations:

  1. The Australian Human Rights Commission should support introduction of a federal Human Rights Act which protects the fundamental civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights contained in the United Nations treaties Australia has signed and ratified.
  2. QAI submits that a federal Human Rights Act should protect all civil and political rights, as well as a broad range of economic, social and cultural rights.
  3. In the initial period of operation of a Human Rights Act, court access could be limited to breaches of civil and political rights only, with the remaining rights progressively realised by becoming actionable after a designated period.
  4. A federal Human Rights Act should include an accessible enforcement mechanism and remedies for breach.
  5. QAI supports a model akin to the ‘dialogue mode’ of human rights protection implemented through the Queensland and Victorian human rights legislation, under which human rights are taken into account when developing, interpreting and applying the law and a dialogue between the different arms of government (legislature, executive and judiciary) is facilitated.
  6. The right to life, the right to freedom from torture and slavery, freedom from forced work, the right to liberty and security of person, humane treatment when deprived of liberty, and the right to a determined period if liberty is deprived, the right to a fair hearing and the rights of children in the criminal process should be absolute or non-derogable (not able to be denied, limited or restricted in any way). Other human rights are not absolute and can be subject to reasonable and proportionate limitations.
  7. A federal Human Rights Act should recognise the equal, inalienable human rights of all human beings and explicitly acknowledge that the exercise of one person’s human rights must respect the human rights and dignity of other humans.
  8. A federal Human Rights Act should include an independent cause of action for breaches of the human rights protected in the Act, the ability to make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission and for the complaint to be heard and reconciled by the Commission. It should include the full range of judicial remedies for breach, including declarations, injunctions, orders to cease the offending conduct and damages, and should protect complainants against adverse costs orders, except in exceptional circumstances. A federal Human Rights Act should include provision for class actions to be brought, in recognition that human rights are often of special significance to a particular group, with standing given to appropriate representative organisations in the position to support or represent individuals and groups of people whose human rights have been breached and who have specialised skills or knowledge that is helpful for a particular group(s).
  9. The federal Government should provide a broad program of education to increase Australia’s literacy about human rights.
  10. Government must take the lead in modelling progressive change, such as by imposing and honouring quotas for the employment of persons with disability in government departments and requiring all government schools, social welfare, health and other services to be properly accessible and inclusive.
  11. The government should call on the Australian corporate sector and community organisations to pledge their commitment to protecting human rights and developing a human rights culture in Australia.
  12. The Australian Human Rights Commission will have a pivotal role in educating individuals, the community and government departments and agencies on their rights and responsibilities under the human rights legislation and international law and supporting attendance at United Nations conferences and sessions.
  13. QAI submits that a federal Human Rights Act should include provision for statutory review of the legislation within designated timeframes. Review must be authentically undertaken, with action in response to recommendations monitored, including review of relevant case studies, reports by NGOs and reporting by the United Nations.
  14. It is vital that adequate resources are committed to realise human rights law, policy and practice.

You can read the full submission here.

  • 27 Feb, 2020
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chalkboard with flow chart and hand pointing to one of the boxes

Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) flowchart

QAI prepared the following flowchart to help explain how the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) may be used to challenge a breach of human rights from 1 January 2020.

Human Rights Act process (PDF)

  • 19 Sep, 2019
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  • By Rebekah L
  • Latest news, Legal info and guides
person holding black board with writing act now human rights 4 qld

Resources from the HRA4Qld campaign

The following factsheets and resources were prepared for the Human Rights Act for Queensland campaign. They may still be useful in helping to explain how the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) might help specific groups of people or circumstances.

Background paper – A Human Rights Act for Queensland (pdf) This paper explains the features of a Human Rights Act (Part 1) and the key benefits of having human rights protections (Part 2).

Lobby your MP (pdf) A factsheet providing an overview of the proposed Human Rights Act.

***

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples  (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights protection in other places has improved the lives of indigenous peoples.

Access to justice (pdf) This factsheet explains how human rights legislation can improve the ability of people to access justice.

Children and young people (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has improved the lives of
children and young people.

Culturally and linguistically diverse communities (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has improved the lives of people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Homelessness (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has assisted people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Older people (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has improved the lives of older people.

People with disability (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has improved the
lives of people with disability.

People who are LGBTI (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has improved the lives of people who are LGBTI.

Regional areas  (pdf) This fact sheet explains how a Human Rights Act could improve things for Queenslanders in rural, regional and remote areas.

Women experiencing domestic violence (pdf) This factsheet provides examples of how human rights legislation in other places has improved the
lives of women experiencing domestic violence.

  • 19 Sep, 2019
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  • By Rebekah L
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