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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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Mistake of Fact Submission

QAI made a submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission Inquiry into the Mistake of Fact defence.

Initial Recommendations

Retain mistake of fact defence, because some people with intellectual impairment can misinterpret, for example, body language, or verbal cues if CALD, but:

  • A proper evidentiary basis must exist before the court directs a jury on this defence e.g. where the woman has shown little or no outward manifestation of any lack of consent (as opposed to where there is evidence of accused’s use of force/violence, and resistance by complainant).
  • Provide clearer guidance in the legislation for what constitutes a “reasonable” basis for an accused to believe in consent
  • Provide guidance for jury directions that explain the above.

You can read the full submission here.

  • 24 Oct, 2019
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  • By Admin
  • Latest news, Submissions
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Human Rights Bill Submission Making Tool and Resources

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.

 

https://www.humanrights4qld.com.au/make_a_submission

  • 8 Nov, 2018
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  • By Admin
  • Latest news, Resources, Submissions

MEDIA RELEASE – Queensland Advocacy welcomes landmark Human Rights legislation tabled in Queensland Parliament today

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31 October 2018

For immediate release

 

Queensland Advocacy welcomes landmark Human Rights legislation tabled in Queensland Parliament today

 

It is with much excitement that Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI) thanks and congratulates the Queensland Government for introducing a Human Rights Bill for Queensland.

The announcement by the Queensland Attorney-General, the Hon. Yvette D’Ath, that the Human Rights Bill was being tabled in Parliament was enthusiastically welcomed by a broad cross-section of the community at the Community Legal Centres Queensland Leadership Forum in Brisbane on Monday.

QAI strongly supports this highly important legislative reform. “This is the reform that all of us who work with, support and advocate for the most vulnerable people in our community have been waiting and hoping for,” QAI’s Director Michelle O’Flynn said today. “We applaud the Queensland Government for developing a strong and workable Act that will help to create a culture of human rights protection in this state.”

Once enacted, the Human Rights Act will offer basic protection of fundamental civil and political rights for all Queenslanders. In an innovative step for Australia, the Bill also protects the cultural rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the economic, social and cultural rights to education and healthcare.

QAI senior lawyer and systems advocate Emma Phillips, who has been working on the community-driven campaign for a Human Rights Act for the past three years and is Chair of the Human Rights Act Sub-Committee of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, welcomed the historic reforms. “The introduction of this Bill represents a pivotal milestone in Queensland history,” Dr Phillips said.

“This Bill contains a strong framework that protects the fundamental human rights of Queenslanders. We are particularly pleased to see the inclusion of a complaints mechanism, which enables people to make a complaint to the Queensland Human Rights Commission and have the opportunity for this complaint to be heard and conciliated in an accessible forum,” Dr Phillips said. “This is innovative and important law reform – Queensland is leading the way in offering the strongest model of human rights protection in Australia.”

QAI is hopeful that the Government will consider the inclusion of a broad range of remedies for breaches of the Act to ensure that the human rights are enforceable and meaningful. 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.

“While the passage of this Human Rights Bill may not make a difference to the lives of all Queenslanders, it will make a fundamental difference to the lives of the most marginalised and disempowered, including people with disability and mental illness who seek advice and assistance from our organisation,” Dr Phillips said. “It will introduce another dimension into decision-making about matters affecting the rights and lives of Queenslanders, requiring those making decisions by or on behalf of public entities to have regard to the impact of those decisions on the human rights of the person concerned. This will be an important safeguard for all Queenslanders, but will be particularly significant for those on the margins.”

“This is a really significant moment in Queensland history,” Ms O’Flynn said. “We wish to congratulate all of those who have worked so hard to make this happen.”

For more information, please visit the campaign website: humanrights4qld.com.au.

Media contact:

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.

  • 31 Oct, 2018
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Media release – Violence against people with disabilities in their home forum

Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner headlines QAI’s Violence against people with disabilities in their home Forum

Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI) is thrilled to announce that Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Mr Alastair McEwin, will be the keynote speaker at our Violence against people with disabilities in their home forum on Monday 24th September 2018.

Fresh from the release of his report into institutional violence “A Future without Violence: Quality, safeguarding and oversight to prevent and address violence against people with disability in institutional settings”, Mr McEwin will be addressing the forum about this significant social policy issue. “QAI is thrilled to welcome Mr McEwin to Brisbane for this occasion,” QAI Director Michelle O’Flynn said today. “We are so appreciative of the important work the Commissioner does to protect and defend the human rights of people with disability in Australia and we are honoured to have him present the keynote address at our forum.”

This innovative forum will be held at Brisbane City Hall and will include guest speakers, live performances and personal stories from people with lived experience. “We are very excited to present this forum and launch these important resources”, Ms O’Flynn said. “Live theatre and art are such powerful and accessible mediums and we feel very privileged to have the opportunity to work with such talented artists and performers with disability within our local community.”

Mr McEwin’s keynote address will be followed by a wonderful and diverse line-up of speakers, including individuals with lived experience sharing personal stories, former Australian Senator and social campaigner Andrew Bartlett, Caxton Legal Centre’s Ros Williams, Leona Berrie from WWild – Sexual Violence Prevention Service and Dr Natasha Alexander, clinical psychologist in community disability and mental health services from Consentability. A highlight will be the live theatrical performances, interspersed throughout the day, by the talented students of the Access and Equity Program of TAFE Queensland.

We hope and anticipate that the forum and ongoing project will increase general understanding and awareness of violence against people with disability, including the impact it has on a person, the potential perpetrators of violence and the diverse settings and ways in which it can occur. As part of the forum, QAI will also be launching a series of multi-media resources developed in collaboration with artists and actors with disabilities to raise awareness of the types of violence faced by people with disabilities within residential settings.

QAI is an independent, community-based system and individual advocacy organisation for people with disability in Queensland with over 30 years’ experience advocating for systems change, through campaigns directed at attitudinal, law and policy reform.

 

For more information
Queensland Advocacy on 07 3844 4200 (business hours) QAI is an independent, community-based, individual, systemic and legal advocacy organisation for people with disability in Queensland, Australia. Its Mental Health Legal Service provides advice and representation to people receiving involuntary treatment for mental illness across the State.

 

Media enquiries
Michelle O’Flynn, Director, QAI. Contact: 0481381528

  • 17 Sep, 2018
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Ensuring a Strong Future for Supported Employment

Submission by Queensland Advocacy Incorporated

 

Department of Social Services
 

Link: QAI submission – the future of supported employment

  • 15 Mar, 2018
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  • By Admin
  • Submissions

Denial of support to Queensland juror

QAI media release on issues pertaining to jury service for people with disabilities

media release – denial of support to Qld. juror

  • 6 Oct, 2016
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  • By Emma Phillips
  • Media releases

Attorney-General, extend inquiry into youth detention to include disabilities

QAI media release calling on the Queensland Attorney-General to extend the inquiry into youth detention to include youths with disability

Media Release A-G extend inquiry Aug 16

  • 24 Aug, 2016
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  • By Emma Phillips
  • Media releases

QAI speaks out against sensationalist and callous reporting of the plight of a Queensland teen with an intellectual disability and mental illness

QAI media release on the media reporting of issues pertaining to people with intellectual disability and mental illness

Media Release 16.02.16

  • 16 Feb, 2016
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  • By Emma Phillips
  • Media releases
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Events
  • Love, Sex & Family - A Human Rights Forum & AGM

  • Event Date: 10/10/2019


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