VLA ready to embrace human rights charter

Date created: 04 December 2007

In 2006, Victoria took the historic step of enacting a charter of human rights. Apart from the Australian Capital Territory, no other state or territory in Australia has a charter.

The charter is based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966. It contains twenty well-known rights (such as the right to liberty and the right to fair hearing) that enable people to live with freedom, respect, equality and dignity. It also contains specific rights about legal aid in criminal proceedings.  Since 1 January 2007, all bills introduced into Parliament have been accompanied by a statement about whether the legislation is compatible with human rights. In exceptional circumstances, Parliament may pass a law that is incompatible with the charter but this has not occurred to date.

From 1 January 2008:

• courts and tribunals will be required to interpret all legislation in a way that is compatible with human rights (as far as it is possible to do so consistently with the purpose of the legislation)
• a person may seek a remedy for unlawfulness under the charter (but only where the person already has an existing cause of action)
• all public authorities (including VLA) will be required to act in a way that is compatible with human rights and give human rights proper consideration in decision-making. 

Last August, British expert Lord Robert Walker spoke to VLA about the positive impact that a human rights charter has had on the justice system in the United Kingdom since it was introduced in 1998. Lord Walker, a Law Lord since 2002, described the adjudication of human rights matters as ‘a balancing act’ and provided useful case law examples from the United Kingdom and other parts of the world operating under charters of human rights which highlighted the adjudication process. 

VLA is optimistic that the charter will deliver benefits to all Victorians, particularly those who are socially or financially disadvantaged.  The charter provides a framework that VLA can use to protect our clients’ human rights by:

• reinforcing rights in existing criminal, family and civil cases
• supporting law reform submissions
• reviewing and improving VLA policies and procedures
• requiring other public authorities (such as the police) to act appropriately.

The Australian Capital Territory experience of implementing a charter has shown that it will take time to establish a human rights culture and for training to occur across all levels of government. VLA is running a program of activities to promote cultural change at VLA and prepare for the implementation of the charter. For example, just over 20 of our criminal lawyers recently participated in training workshops at the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. The Department of Justice and the Human Rights Law Resource Centre have also run sessions for VLA staff about the charter.

VLA encourages all practitioners to consider how the charter may be used to support clients. Practitioners are reminded that under VLA guidelines, grants of assistance may be provided for public interest and test cases.

More information about the charter is available on the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission website.

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