‘These are the cases that have shaped, and continue to shape, the moral heart of the nation. That moral heart is learning to embrace our First Nations, but First Nations and First People know only too well that courts applying human rights law can deliver justice where Parliament lacks the will or bravery.’
– Tony McAvoy SC
‘An essential resource for all interested in how we can advance human rights through the law in Australia – and demonstrates why Australians need and deserve better human rights protections in our laws and in our Constitution.’
– Jennifer Robinson, international human rights barrister and author
The first book of its kind, 50 Human Rights Cases that Changed Australia summarises Australia’s 50 most significant and influential human rights cases. The cases include landmark human rights cases from all Australian states and territories. They range from the seminal freedom of expression and First Nations land rights cases of the 1990s, to lesser-known earlier cases on civil liberties and criminal procedure and more recent advances in LGBTIQA+ rights, environmental rights, and the rights of people with disabilities.
Each case summary explains, in plain language, the facts, the issues and the outcome of the case. Each summary also contains key quotes from the judgment, commentary situating the case in its social and political context, and critical analysis of the case’s impact.
The first half of the book contains summaries of cases that have advanced the rights of particular groups in the Australian community: First Nations rights; women’s rights; LGBTIQA+ rights; disability rights; children’s rights; asylum seeker and refugee rights; prisoners’ rights.
The second half of the book contains summaries of cases dealing with particular human rights: the right against racial discrimination; the right to liberty; criminal justice rights; the right to freedom of expression; democratic rights; the right to a healthy environment; and the rule of law.
The cases demonstrate the potential of the law to achieve justice, as well as its limitations. They also reveal Australia’s human rights protections to be piecemeal and inadequate — illustrating the urgent need for a constitutional bill of rights.
Written by two practising human rights lawyers, this anthology is an essential resource for law students, lawyers and activists. It also provides an engaging overview to anyone who might be curious about how the law, and in particular litigation, has advanced human rights in Australia.
About the Authors
Lucy Geddes is an Australian human rights lawyer who has worked on issues relating to access to justice for over 10 years in Victoria, NSW, South Africa, England, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. She currently leads the Public Interest Advocacy’s Asylum Seeker Rights Project and is a teaching fellow at the University of New South Wales. Previously, Lucy was the Head of Legal Action Worldwide’s Sri Lanka office.
Lucy has worked at Victoria Legal Aid, in private practice in NSW, and completed clerkships with Chief Justice Mogoeng of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and Justice Tarfusser of the International Criminal Court. Lucy was awarded best overall performance in her MSc in Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics, which she completed as a Lionel Murphy Scholar.
Hamish McLachlan has over 15 years’ experience practising in public, administrative and human rights law in Australia and New Zealand. He is currently Co-Manager, Public Law at the Department of Premier and Cabinet in Victoria. He previously worked at Victoria Legal Aid advising and representing clients in relation to a broad range of human rights issues, including anti-discrimination law, mental health and disability law, tenancy, social security, and refugee and migration law.
Most recently, he was the Managing Lawyer of VLA’s Mental Health and Disability Law Program. He previously worked as a lawyer in the human rights teams at the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office and New Zealand’s Crown Law Office. He also co-hosts a queer and trans community radio show on 3RRR in Melbourne.
