Laws play their role in regulating our governments, but so does our own respect for political conventions. And the way these are upheld goes to the heart of our freedom as democratic people.
Peter Dutton has proven why he should not be given sole power under the government’s proposed new law to revoke the citizenship of dual nationals involved in terrorist activities.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Last Friday, Attorney-General George Brandis and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton issued an extraordinary statement declaring that the president of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, needed…
What we know of the harm that indefinite detention does to children underpins the case for partisan opposition to the policy.
AAP/Jesse Roberts
The Senate has censured Attorney-General George Brandis, saying he is “unfit to hold the office”, over his behaviour in relation to Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs.
The most recent allegations against George Brandis stem from Gillian Triggs’ evidence to a Senate estimates hearing.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Regardless of whether George Brandis’ action was illegal, it represents an attempt by the very institutions charged with protecting the rule of law to unduly influence it.
In parliament Julie Bishop flatly contradicted evidence given by a senior public servant.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The government’s war on Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has deepened into a major test of credibility, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop flatly contradicting evidence given by a senior public servant.
Gillian Triggs has been subjected to sustained attacks from government MPs and The Australian newspaper in recent times.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The attacks on Gillian Triggs are the latest in a series of campaigns The Australian has waged against those in public life with whom it disagrees or against whom it has a grievance.
Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs said she had no doubt the seeking of her resignation and the offer of a future role were connected.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Many asylum seekers, including children, have experienced conflict, family separation and significant human rights violations. So how does immigration detention affect their mental health?
The failure of senior ministers of government to observe basic protocols of respect for the Human Rights Commission and its president, Gillian Triggs, gives the nation a signal that the institutions of democracy are dispensable.
AAP/Lukas Coch
In his incautious remarks about the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) report into children in detention, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has shown a disregard for basic institutions of democracy that…
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics including Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s bad week, the Human Rights Commission’s report on children…
A drawing by a six-year-old child detained at the Christmas Island detention centre.
AAP/AHRC
The federal government has tabled the long-awaited Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) report into children held in immigration detention. The report, which recommends a royal commission be held…
Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs has come under attack from sections of the media and government.
AAP/Quentin Jones
Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs has been the subject of unusually fierce criticism by sections of the media and government, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Senior Australian…
One in two Australian women report discrimination, despite existing protection laws.
Flickr/Ryan
A landmark study by the Australian Human Rights Commission reporting that one in two mothers has experienced work discrimination shows employers clearly believe they have legitimate reasons to discriminate…
Attorney-general George Brandis has put his imprimatur on the Human Rights Commission with the appointment of the IPA’s Tim Wilson as Human Rights Commissioner.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
There is something both utterly predictable and wonderfully larrikin about federal attorney-general George Brandis’ appointment of the Institute for Public Affairs’ (IPA) self-described “classic liberal…
Mental health experts say uncertainty is a major factor that contributes to the mental deterioration of asylum seekers in detention.
AAP
The “prison-like” immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island are not appropriate for asylum seekers, and there has been a rise in the demand for mental health services at the facility, according…
The Human Rights Commission has recommended gender diversity targets to increase female representation in the Australian Defence Force.
AAP
Gender diversity targets are required to ensure women have the same opportunities as men in the Australian Defence Force, argues Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, who today released…
Was Tony Abbott’s speech to the IPA a preview of the kind of government he and shadow Attorney General George Brandis will operate?
AAP/Mick Tsivakis
As politics heightens in the decreasing count down to the 2013 Federal election, the opposition is laying its cards on the table. Always on the cards since the Institute for Public Affairs, a right-wing…