Independent Review of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019
21 June 2024
The ALA has made a submission to the Independent Review of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019 (Independent Review), which is being led by Professor Susan Harris Rimmer.
Our submission focuses on the ALA’s opposition to the override provisions in the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld), which allow the Queensland Parliament to override Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019 in order to pass legislation which breaches a human right or multiple human rights. When the Queensland Parliament has overridden the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld), it has been to pass legislation that has had a disproportionate and negative effect on vulnerable Queenslanders, namely children and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The ALA submits, therefore, that the override provisions are neither appropriate nor necessary – moreover, they directly undermine the main objects of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) itself.
The Independent Review of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019 finalised its report in September 2024 and was tabled in Queensland Parliament in March 2025.
ALA submission
Final report