MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator TYRRELL (Tasmania) (16:41): You can't stop him when he starts! I want to thank Senator Thorpe for her motion and for her continued fight for human rights in this country. We must all continue to push for change and ensure human rights are protected for all, equally and fairly, at all levels of government in this country.

The Albanese government is committed to protecting and promoting human rights to ensure that all Australians are able to participate fully in our democracy, economy and society. Australia has a significant longstanding commitment to human rights and a long history of positive and constructive engagement with the international human rights system and civil society.

Human rights in Australia are recognised and protected through a range of laws at the federal, state and territory levels, the Australian Constitution and the common law. Any improvement to human rights protections in Australia should be done in a way that unites rather than divides the community. This government has continued to prioritise meaningful reform to strengthen rights and to progress massive human rights reforms.

The Albanese government appreciates the work in the previous parliament of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, chaired by the member for Macnamara, to produce a report on Australia's human rights framework. The government is now actively considering that report. Whilst that status update is really exciting, you might be disappointed to know that the government does not support this motion.

Instead, we're taking the time to carefully consider the joint committee's report, because we know how important human rights are to Australians and to our democracy. In the meantime, we have a really strong set of domestic frameworks. All jurisdictions have comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation that implements rights to nondiscrimination and equality.

All jurisdictions also have a board or commission that oversees human rights and antidiscrimination. These have functions that include the determination or conciliation of complaints of discrimination brought under legislation operating in the jurisdiction. They also do human rights education and awareness raising.

At the federal level, this includes federal antidiscrimination laws which make it unlawful to discriminate based on protected attributes, including sex, intersex status, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin in certain areas of public life, and the Australian Human Rights Commission, Australia's independent A-status national human rights institution.

The Australian government has continued to prioritise meaningful reform to strengthen rights and to progress significant human rights reforms. This includes, for example, actioning all recommendations from the Respect@Work report; inserting a cost protection provision into the Australian Human Rights Commission Act to promote better access to justice for those pursuing proceedings for unlawful discrimination; committing $6.9 million towards a review and modernisation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 as part of its response to the disability royal commission; legislating a merit based and transparent appointment process for the Australian Human Rights Commission, consistent with the international Paris principles; and passing legislation to ban life insurers from using adverse genetic testing to inform life insurance cover.

As a government, we will continue to prioritise actions such as these that have meaningful, positive impact on the lives of Australians. Human rights protections are also maintained at the federal level through the parliamentary legislative scrutiny process under the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. All government and non-government bills and disallowable legislative instruments must be accompanied by a statement of compatibility which assesses the compatibility of legislation with Australia's obligations under the seven core international human rights treaties to which Australia is a party.

To sum it up: thank you, Senator Thorpe, for your urgency motion. Personally, I understand your push to legislate the human rights act, but we need to take the time to consider the work that has already been done and consider the report provided to the government. The Albanese government appreciates the work in the previous parliament through the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, which produced a report on Australia's human rights framework.

The government is actively considering this report and remains committed to protecting and promoting human rights to ensure that all Australians are able to participate fully in our democracy, economy and society.