DOCSLIB.ORG

Pro Bono Voco Issue 4: November 2020

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Pro Bono Voco Issue 4: November 2020 AUSTRALIAN Pro Bono Voco PRO BONO CENTRE Natalie Wade: Disability rights advocacy Dentons: Large scale Measuring impact at the Centre wetlands conservation National Justice Project: Tackling Kingsford Legal Centre: Pro bono discrimination through strategic litigation FAL Lawyers: Pro bono support in the time of COVID at a boutique firm Pro Bono Guide to the Climate Crisis: Chloe O’Brien: COVID and ‘the new normal’ The Centre’s new resource Rosalind Croucher: Pro bono DLA Piper: Learning in the time of COVID-19 Spotlight on Our Board: Jonathon Hunyor & the Australian Human Rights Commission Growing pro bono participation by in-house Inspiring Pro Bono Action ISSUE 4 | NOV 2020 Thanks to Kingsford Legal Centre Pro Bono Voco for use of front cover photo Many of us are contemplating how we’ll fill our cups over the Chloe O’Brien, a lawyer in the pro bono team of holiday break to restore our mental, physical and emotional Simmons & Simmons in London, discusses challenges Each week the Centre distributes energy after such a challenging year. I hope this edition of Voco and opportunities presented by COVID-19 and her work a Weekly Round-Up of the top news will aid you in this quest! This edition’s focus is on celebrating as a volunteer Policy & Project Officer at the Centre while stories relating to pro bono legal the work of lawyers in Australia and abroad in advancing on furlough leave this year. Chloe was a great asset to work and access to justice through human rights and social justice to create a better, brighter, the team and we are grateful for her support, all Pro Bono in the News. Subscribe future for our communities. provided pro bono and in the spirit we promote at the at www.probonocentre.org.au Centre (p. 23). Natalie Wade, Founder and Principal Lawyer of Equality Lawyers in South Australia, discusses her Climate-related work has been a significant focus career advancing the rights of people with of the Centre this year. I’m so pleased this edition Don’t miss the Centre’s disabilities and how she’s developing includes a case study provided by Jodie primary resources at www.probonocentre.org.au: innovative ways to provide accessible Wauchope, Planning & Environment and inclusive legal services (p.3). Partner and National Pro Bono Partner at · The Australian Pro Bono Manual: a ‘how to’ and ‘best Dentons, on the firm’s work on two of the Fighting for human rights and social practice’ guide on establishing largest land acquisitions for conservation in justice and advocating for those who and operating a pro bono Australia (p.9). If you haven’t already done so, program suffer systemic discrimination is also at the core of please read our Pro Bono Guide to the Climate the National Justice Project’s work. The firm’s work, which · Pro Bono Partnerships and Crisis, released in August 2020. Find a summary Models: A Practical Guide includes assistance to refugees and its groundbreaking of the guide on page 7. to What Works: practical activities fighting discrimination in the healthcare system, information on how to has been recognised nationally and internationally (p.5). In this edition we also highlight other Centre initiatives. , effectively collaborate on including our work to grow in-house pro bono (p.27). pro bono projects We are delighted to have Rosalind Croucher AM, President of Our Australian Government Solicitor secondee, Anna · Best Practice Guide: a guide the Australian Human Rights Commission, discuss the work of Jacobs, writes about the Centre’s own measuring to best practice in the provision the Commission and the pro bono assistance it receives, which of pro bono legal services impact procedures and highlights our new Buddy she notes has had a meaningful, lasting and positive Program as a case study (p.16). Anna has been integral · Client Management & experience on human rights (p.11). Self-Care Guide to the development of these initiatives. As her In this edition we feature the work of boutique firm and Target secondment comes to an end we thank Anna for her · Pro Bono Legal Work: A Guide for Government Lawyers signatory, FAL Lawyers, and its wide-ranging pro bono work, fantastic contribution to the work and life of the Centre including the firm’s involvement in the important ‘Free the since January 2020. · Pro Bono Legal Work: A Guide Flag’ campaign (p.14). for In-House Corporate Lawyers Continuing our ‘spotlight on board members’ series, · Pro Bono Guide to the Climate Technology has been at the forefront of DLA Piper's adaptation a huge thank you to PIAC CEO and trumpeter, Crisis of training for students in Fiji (p.25). Jonathon Hunyor, for sharing his early career · Pro Bono Guide for Individual Thank you to Emma Golledge, Director of the Kingsford Legal experiences and passions (p.21)! Lawyers Centre based at UNSW, who reports on her Centre’s work Gabriela Christian-Hare, during COVID-19, and the pro bono support it receives (p.19). CEO AUSTRALIAN PRO BONO CENTRE 2 Natalie Wade: Disability rights advocacy and pro bono innovation I was born with a physical disability in 1989. It was a time “I became increasingly aware that where the compulsory institutionalisation of people with disabilities had come to an end but placing a person the disability community were not with a disability in an institution was still an option. The only being shut away, they were recognition of the right to education and employment was in its infancy with segregated schooling and employment being abused, exploited and killed. opportunities being exceptional rather than expected was I also became acutely aware that the status quo. I was entering a profession that As I grew up through the nineties and noughties, I was could change that course.” relatively oblivious to the oppression and marginalisation of people with disabilities. Everyday acts of discrimination and Natalie ableism, like having to undergo an IQ test to be accepted in her wig into mainstream school or not being able to enter into and gown the private rental market because there are no accessible options were normalised and accepted. Then I went to Law School. Somewhere between the teachings of the Priestly 11 and the self-awareness that sets in for most 20-something- year-olds, I became increasingly aware that the disability community were not only being shut away, they were being abused, exploited and killed. I also became acutely aware that I was entering a profession that could change that course. articles on the topic and gave public seminars, Counterintuitively, I became a government lawyer. But I arguing that evidence laws should be reformed, could not resist spending my spare time in the evenings and judicial officers given more training to facilitate and on weekends, researching and publishing on disability the evidence from these people. Natalie, aged 4 years with her sister and their friend rights law topics. I founded and led disability rights committees within organisations, like Australian Lawyers In 2015, the South Australian Parliament enacted for Human Rights. I gave speeches and submissions changes to the Evidence Act which allow for about the legal frameworks that oppressed or failed to people with complex communication needs to protect people with disabilities. I focused on systemic give evidence with communication assistance, issues facing the disability rights movement and funnelled such as with a Communication Partner. Law my ever-growing legal expertise into dismantling them. I reform is an important tool for the disability took particular interest in the participation of people with rights movement. We, people with disabilities, complex communication needs in courts. I published face immense challenges in achieving equal AUSTRALIAN PRO BONO CENTRE 3 Natalie Natalie speaking sitting in her with the Hon wheelchair Michael Kirby in front of AC CMG street art “I focused on systemic issues facing the disability rights movement and funnelled my Natalie Wade is the ever-growing legal expertise Founder and Principal into dismantling them.” Lawyer of Equality Lawyers, a disability rights law practice recognition before the law and immediate reforms are based in Adelaide, South needed to better protect and promote our human rights. Australia. Throughout Lawyers contributing to the law reform agenda offer an Natalie’s legal career incredible opportunity to create better laws that give she has focussed on disability rights lawyers the tools they need to better the advancement protect their clients. of the rights of people with disabilities in While the time I spent being a government lawyer Australia. Be it through leadership and by day and a disability rights law reformist by night advocacy such as establishing Australian was productive and rewarding, I have since founded Lawyers for Human Rights Disability Rights a boutique disability rights law firm, Equality Lawyers. Subcommittee or by publishing articles Equality Lawyers exclusively represents people with and taking part in conversations on law disabilities and their families. As a private practice with reform topics that change the way people a sole focus on disability rights, I have had to innovate with disabilities access their everyday our approach to pro bono legal services. Rather than rights, Natalie has been a consistent voice focusing our pro bono efforts on people experiencing on human rights issues facing people with economic marginalisation, we offer pro bono services disabilities. Since establishing Equality to people with disabilities and their families as a service Lawyers, Natalie has been exploring of last resort and where the case requires the person innovative ways to provide accessible to go up against a much more powerful party, like a and inclusive legal services to people with government department or private corporation.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Submission to the Royal Commission Into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability
    Submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability Submission on laws, policies and practice affecting migrants, refugees and citizens from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds January 2021 Sydney Centre for International Law The University of Sydney Law School Building (F10) Camperdown Campus, The University of Sydney NSW 2006 [email protected] With Macquarie Law School Social Justice Clinic About the Sydney Centre for International Law The Sydney Centre for International Law (SCIL) was established in 2003 as a centre of excellence in research and teaching in international law. The centre fosters innovative, interdisciplinary scholarship across the international legal field, and also provides an avenue for the public to access international legal expertise. It operates within the University of Sydney Law School, building upon its well-recognised history of strength in this area. This submission was prepared by the following SCIL interns under the supervision and with the assistance of SCIL Director Professor Mary Crock. Parts 1 – 3; Part 10 Sarah Charak*; Wendy Chen*; Angus Chen*; Sherry Xueyi Jin; John McCrorie*; Leah Park; Rachel Sun*; Emma Louise Tirabosco;* Siobhan Walsh; Frank Gang Yang. Parts 4 - 6 Freya Appleford*; Sarah Charak; Angus Chen; Jake Jerogin*; Emma Kench*; Maxine McHugh; Miranda Hutchenson; Anton Nguyen*; Alexandra Touw; Jiann Yap; Alan Zheng*; Kevin Zou*; Part 7 Jess Mitchell*; Anisha Gunawardhana*; Part 8 Mary Crock; Olivia Morris; Part 9 Mary Crock with Macquarie University Law School Social Justice Clinic and the National Justice Project– Associate Professor Daniel Ghezelbash; Thomas Boyes, Sarah Croake, Jemy Ma; and Sara Hakim* (as a volunteer at the National Justice Project).
    [Show full text]
  • Black to the Future: Making the Case for Indigenist Health Humanities
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article Black to the Future: Making the Case for Indigenist Health Humanities Chelsea Watego 1,*, Lisa J. Whop 2 , David Singh 3, Bryan Mukandi 4, Alissa Macoun 5 , George Newhouse 6 , Ali Drummond 7, Amy McQuire 8, Janet Stajic 9 , Helena Kajlich 8 and Mark Brough 1 1 School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia; [email protected] 2 National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra 2601, Australia; [email protected] 3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia; [email protected] 4 School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia; [email protected] 5 School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia; [email protected] 6 Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia; [email protected] 7 School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia; [email protected] 8 School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia; [email protected] (A.M.); [email protected] (H.K.) 9 Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4067, Australia; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-07-3138-0212 Citation: Watego, C.; Whop, L.J.; Abstract: This paper outlines the development of Indigenist Health Humanities as a new and Singh, D.; Mukandi, B.; Macoun, A.; innovative field of research building an intellectual collective capable of bridging the knowledge gap Newhouse, G.; Drummond, A.; that hinders current efforts to close the gap in Indigenous health inequality.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking the Australian Silence
    Breaking the Australian Silence John Pilger 2009 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture CPACS Occasional Paper No. 09/2 Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies ISBN 978-1-74210-172-9 Breaking the Australian Silence 2009 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture Author: John Pilger Complete transcript of the 2009 City of Sydney Peace Prize lecture as delivered by John Pilger at the Sydney Opera House on 5 November 2009. Copyright © 2009 Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies First published 2009, by: The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/centres/cpacs 2009 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture - CPACS Occasional Paper No. 09/2 2009 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture Breaking the Australian Silence John Pilger Speech delivered at the Sydney Opera House, 5 November, 2009 Thank you all for coming tonight, and my thanks to the City of Sydney and especially to the Sydney Peace Foundation for awarding me the Peace Prize. It’s an honour I cherish, because it comes from where I come from. I am a seventh generation Australian. My great-great grandfather landed not far from here, on November 8th, 1821. He wore leg irons, each weighing four pounds. His name was Francis McCarty. He was an Irishman, convicted of the crime of insurrection and “uttering unlawful oaths”. In October of the same year, an 18 year old girl called Mary Palmer stood in the dock at Middlesex Gaol and was sentenced to be transported to New South Wales for the term of her natural life.
    [Show full text]
  • FABC Nov 07.Indd
    Ver # 4 Update NOV 07:Update March 07**NEW R5 .qxd 12/11/07 4:01 PM Page 1 Friends of the ABC (NSW) Inc. quarterly newsletter November-December 2007 Vol 16, No. 5 update friends of the abc NSW FABC AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN Enemies of the ABC Darce Cassidy BROADCASTING for 2007 GOES TO While there is little to distin- ROBYN WILLIAMS and the RADIO guish between various parties on the issues of ABC funding, and NATIONAL SCIENCE SHOW advertising on the ABC, there are significant differences with regard to the appointment of the ABC Board. All governments have tended Producer (1972), and included to appoint their own sympathisers and presen- Investigations, Ockham’s Razor to the ABC’s governing body, but ter of The and In Conversation which fea- the Howard government has Science tures leading science writer and taken board stacking to new Show since broadcaster Robyn Williams talk- heights. The Fraser government its launch ing one-on-one with science pro- made generally conservative in August fessionals and other leading figures. appointments, but playwright 1975, David Williamson was a notable Robyn has Robyn describes The Science exception.The Hawke/Keating given 32 Show as follows: government appointed mostly years of outstanding and distin- “The program is essentially Labor sympathisers, but an excep- guished service to both the ABC unpredictable. This is to allow tion was the former Liberal min- and the listening public of maximum flexibility to accommo- ister Ian McPhee. Australia. Working within very date new material and talent. It But for the Howard govern- limited financial resources, Robyn can range from the regular maga- ment selecting a predominatly has, over those 32 years, provided zine program to lectures, scripted conservative board was not us with a program of a consistent- series, of which several by the late enough.
    [Show full text]
  • Project Safecom News and Updates Sunday, 25 October 2015
    Project SafeCom News and Updates Sunday, 25 October 2015 Subscribe and become a member here: http://www.safecom.org.au/ref-member.htm 1. Richard Ackland: There's no decency in how Australia has treated Abyan. No matter what the truth is 2. Silenced and sidelined: We've already passed judgment on Abyan, so why bother with courts? 3. Refugee rape victim says Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is telling lies about abortion 4. Human rights lawyer urges Peter Dutton to let Somali woman have abortion in Australia 5. Somali refugee flown out of Australia denies saying she declined termination 6. Peter Dutton says advocates for Somali refugee 'Abyan' have let her down 7. Hundreds protest in Sydney in support of Somali refugee allegedly raped on Nauru 8. Australia spent estimated $130,000 on RAAF jet to fly pregnant Somali refugee to Nauru 9. Peter Dutton details medical care provided to Somali refugee in Australia 10. Peter Dutton indicates Somali refugee may yet return to Australia for abortion if she asks to 11. Abyan case: Dutton criticises media coverage of alleged rape victim as 'unhelpful', 'regrettable' 12. MEDIA RELEASE: Abyan needs help, not harrassment 13. Nauru rape case: Police 'stopped off to watch firework show' before ferrying Iranian asylum seeker to station 14. Scott Morrison voiced opposition to late-term abortion in 2014 asylum case 15. 'Extraordinary': Somali refugee flown to Australia for abortion was expected to reach quick decision: Gillian Triggs 16. Greens suggest Nauru expert Philip Moss as advocate for refugee Abyan 17. Peter Dutton says further oversight of asylum seekers unnecessary 18.
    [Show full text]
  • The Aboriginal Question: Enough Is Enough!
    1 The Aboriginal Question: Enough is Enough! Paper delivered to the 29th Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society by John Stone Perth, 27 August, 2017 2 The Aboriginal Question: Enough is Enough! I begin with a welcome to country – a welcome to our country. In doing so I take as my model that employed by Alan Anderson in commencing his paper1 at our 21st Conference in Adelaide. So let me begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land: King George III and his heirs and assigns. Introduction: I first list some matters that arise when discussing Aboriginal questions: • I refer throughout to Aboriginal people, not Indigenous ones. Most people here, I imagine, are indigenous (i.e., native-born) Australians, and the Orwellian arrogation of that term by the Aboriginal industry should not be condoned. • I refer throughout only to Aboriginal people, not to the job lot term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The latter – a Melanesian people – do not like being lumped in with their mainland counterparts, whom they rightly regard as having been Stone Age “hunter gatherer” nomads; by contrast, Melanesians developed agricultural gardens and settled land holdings to go with them. • I reject the pretentious terms “First Peoples” or “First Nations”. This United Nations-derived terminology asserts Aboriginal superiority over the rest of us, whereas a foundation stone of our nation is that we are all, and equally, Australians. I am giving this paper because, having observed Aboriginal politics for the past 50 years, it’s time to say, “It’s over”. Our once seemingly boundless goodwill towards our Aboriginal fellow Australians is becoming exhausted.
    [Show full text]
  • Senator the Honorable Scott Ryan President of the Senate Parliament
    17 July 2018 Senator the Honorable Scott Ryan Honorable Tony Smith MP President of the Senate Speaker of the House of Representatives Parliament of Australia Parliament of Australia PO Box 6100 PO Box 6022 Senate House of Representatives Parliament House Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Canberra ACT 2600 cc: Honorable Christian Porter MP cc: Honorable Mark Dreyfus QC, MP Attorney-General for Australia Shadow Attorney-General for Australia Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices PO Box 6022 Exchange Plaza House of Representatives 2 The Esplanade Parliament House Perth WA 6000 Canberra ACT 2600 cc: Honorable Angus Taylor MP Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 To Whom It May Concern: The undersigned domestic and international organizations and experts write today to urge you to protect Australia’s cybersecurity. Specifically, we ask you not to pursue legislation that would undermine tools, policies, and technologies critical to protecting individual rights, safeguarding the economy, and providing security both in Australia and around the world.1 Further, we encourage you to publicly affirm your support for strong encryption. In early June, Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security, Honorable Angus Taylor MP, gave a speech asserting, “there will […] need to be obligations on industry – telecommunications and technology service providers – to cooperate with agencies to get access to [encrypted] data.”2 Notably, he clarified that the Australian government would not seek to require “access to a decryption key otherwise under the sole control of a user.”3 While the apparent commitment to avoid an escrow system for encryption keys is a positive step, we note that, generally speaking, all known methods of bypassing, altering, or watering down security tools or technologies to provide law enforcement access have been shown to carry severe risk.
    [Show full text]
  • Statement of Eminent Australians on the Continuing Damage
    Statement of Eminent Australians on the continuing damage caused by the discrimination, racism and lack of justice towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, exemplified by the continuation of the Northern Territory Intervention Whi le the Australian nation deliberates on the future of its relationship with the First ations of this land, most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples arc focussed on the continuing discrimination, racism and lack of justice, shown towards them by Federal, State and Territo') Governments in so many areas. An obvious example is the failure often years of Federal Government INTERVENTION in the Northern Territory where 73 remote Aboriginal communities (and hundreds more in homelands in hinterlands) remain subjected to discriminatory legislation that no other Australian citizen endures in its crushing totality. The signatories to this statement suppo1t the recent demands by orthem Territory Elders for an immediate repeal of the Intervention measures, some of which were strengthened and extended for ten years in 2012, by the misleadingly renamed 'Stronger Futures' legislation. We support the calls by Elders in their June 29th 2017 statement for an end to government control of community livi ng areas and the return of community control of housing, employment and local governance. We also support their insistence on an apology and their right to determine their futures and distinctive pathways. 1 First ations' voices have been increasingly ignored since the abolition of ATS IC in 2004 and the Intervention in 2007 and conditions have deteriorated. It is time that Federal and Territory politicians acknowledged the independent assessments2 that the Intervention measures continue to fai l3 and the necessity of establishing genuine self-determination and community control.
    [Show full text]
  • 07 July 29 2021 Clarion
    CLArion Issue No 2106 01 July 2021 CLA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CivilLibertiesAus/ Email newsletter of Civil Liberties Australia (A04043) Email: Secretary(at)cla.asn.au Web: http://www.cla.asn.au/ ____________________________________________ Power battle in parliament: MPs & the people v. the Executive Slowly, quietly, there is a potential revolution under way in federal parliament. Committees of parliament are starting to take back power from the Executive. The Executive has bludgeoned its way to dominance by usurping powers to itself over many decades. Both Coalition and ALP governments have acted in the same way. But some long-serving and experienced MPs are realising the dangers to democracy caused by parliament ceding power to an appointed political body – the Executive – which is made up of mates, close factional allies and special-issue colleagues of the Prime Minister. The first two items below indicate the wrestling match over power that is occurring. At the same time, the “national cabinet” is being heavily questioned as to whether this sudden prime ministerial thought bubble a year or so ago is any way to run a federation nation competently and with good governance. Stand by for more battles over where power should lie: the quarantine facility debate is a precursor to the upcoming disputes. Parl committee wants human rights front and centre The parliamentary joint committee on human rights (the HR committee, or the PJCHR) is arguing that ALL ‘money/financial’ bills must go before parliament with an assessment of their potential impact on human rights attached. This does not currently happen. There is no human rights impact postulated for government spending.
    [Show full text]
  • Project Safecom News and Updates Monday, 12 October 2015
    Project SafeCom News and Updates Monday, 12 October 2015 Subscribe and become a member here: http://www.safecom.org.au/ref-member.htm 1. Why Malcolm Turnbull must dump the citizenship bill 2. UN drops plan to help move climate-change affected people 3. Anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders video replicates controversial 'No Way' campaign 4. Julian Burnside: Why can't we know what's happening on Nauru and Manus Island? 5. Pamela Curr: The shame of Australia's offshore war on women 6. The Saturday Paper: The next phase of the refugee debate 7. Crikey Editorial: Stop the secrecy 8. When will the Turnbull government act on the sexual violence epidemic on Nauru? 7. Family of Iranian woman raped on Nauru at breaking point, say refugee advocates 8. MEDIA RELEASE: Urgent assistance needed for pregnant Somali refugee 9. Refugee raped on Nauru begs Malcolm Turnbull to let her come to Australia for an abortion 10. Bill Shorten says refugee raped on Nauru should be allowed to come to Australia for an abortion 11. Shorten demands Government help alleged Nauru rape victim seeking abortion 12. Nauru: mother of alleged gang-rape victim attempts suicide 13. Thousands sign online petition demanding a rape victim on Nauru be allowed to come to Australia for an abortion 14. Royal Children's Hospital doctors refuse to return children to detention 15. Hospital doctors protest to demand release of children from detention 16. Children 'almost impossible to treat' while detained, Royal Children's Hospital doctors say 17. Liberal Russell Broadbent calls for end to 'unacceptable' detention of children 18.
    [Show full text]
  • Implementing OPCAT in Australia 2020
    Implementing OPCAT in Australia 2020 © Australian Human Rights Commission 2020. We encourage the dissemination and exchange of information presented in this publication and endorse the use of the Australian Governments Open Access and Licensing Framework (AusGOAL). Implementing OPCAT in Australia All material presented in this publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 2020 International Licence, with the exception of: • photographs and images • the Commission’s logo, any branding or trademarks • where otherwise indicated. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. Australian Human Rights Commission In essence, you are free to copy, communicate and adapt the publication, as long as you attribute the Australian Human Rights Commission and abide by the other licence terms. Please give attribution to: © Australian Human Rights Commission. ISBN: 978-1-925917-23-9 Implementing OPCAT in Australia • 2020 For further information about copyright in this publication, please contact: Communications Unit Australian Human Rights Commission GPO Box 5218 SYDNEY NSW 2001 Telephone: (02) 9284 9600 TTY: 1800 620 241 Email: [email protected] Design and layout: Jody Stocovaz Cover image: iStock Internal photography: iStock The Australian Human Rights Commission is Australia’s National Human Rights Institution. It is an independent statutory organisation with responsibility for leading the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia. Further information about the Commission can be found at www.humanrights.gov.au/ about-commission. Authors: Sophie Farthing, John Howell and Edward Santow. Acknowledgements: • President Rosalind Croucher, National Children’s Rights Commissioner Megan Mitchell, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Ben Gauntlett.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rudd/Gillard Government, Asylum Seekers, and the Politics of Norm
    The Rudd/Gillard Government, Asylum Seekers, and the Politics of Norm Contestation Katja Cooper B Arts (International Relations)/B Laws (Hons) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2019 School of Political Science and International Relations (POLSIS) i Abstract This thesis examines the important role that humanitarian arguments played in influencing the trajectory of Australia’s asylum seeker policy during the Prime Ministerships of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard (2007 – 2013). In the leadup to the 2007 Federal Election, Rudd declared that Australia had a moral obligation to treat asylum seekers with compassion because the ‘biblical injunction to care for the stranger in our midst is clear.’ During his first year in office, Rudd largely fulfilled his promise to comply with the ‘letter and the spirit’ of the Refugee Convention by ending offshore detention on Nauru and Manus Island, abolishing Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs), and declaring that mandatory detention would only be used as a ‘last resort.’ However, by 2013, Labor’s humanitarian platform on Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMAs) had been largely abandoned. Faced with a significant increase in boat arrivals, an overburdened immigration detention system and an increasingly hostile public, both Rudd and his successor Gillard responded by gradually reintroducing the punitive measures that had comprised the Howard Government’s Pacific Solution. In order to ascertain why Rudd’s attempt to take Australia’s asylum seeker policy in a more humanitarian direction was unable to be sustained, I will undertake a normative analysis of the language that both Labor and the Coalition used in order to legitimate their respective asylum seeker policies during the Rudd/Gillard era.
    [Show full text]