Andrew tabled the Human Rights Bill 2026 in the Federal Parliament, seconded by Independent Member for Indi Helen Haines. You can watch his introductory speech below:
This is the third time Andrew has introduced comprehensive human rights legislation and follows the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights recommending in their 2024 inquiry that the Government “re-establish and significantly improve Australia’s Human Rights Framework”, including “the establishment of a Human Rights Act”.
But sadly, this committee report is yet another which has sat in the Government’s too hard basket, yet to receive a formal response, let alone any legislative action. And it’s not like this is excusable because everything’s chugging along fine in Australia.
Andrew’s Human Rights Bill sets out to fix this. The Bill spells out in plain terms, the rights and freedoms that everyone in Australia is entitled to. And it requires that core Australian values of fairness, respect, dignity and compassion must be put at the centre of every decision the Parliament takes, and at the heart of the decisions and policies governments pursue.
It’s appalling that Australia is the only liberal democracy in the world without some sort of comprehensive national guarantee of human rights. We cannot keep accepting second-rate protections which lag behind the rest of the world. Australians deserve a Human Rights Act, and this Parliament should deliver it.