Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 17 June
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Australia is the only western democracy without a Charter of Human Rights or an equivalent legal protection. What’s holding us back?
For this discussion, we’re bringing together three panellists – Kristen Hilton, Teela Reid and Gillian Triggs – to discuss the push for a federal Charter of Human Rights. Hosted by Lee Carnie, they’ll outline glaring problem areas in Australia’s human-rights record and make a case for legally enshrined and protected rights for all Australians.
What can we learn from the existing charters in Victoria and ACT? What real-life and practical difference would a Charter of Human Rights make for everyday Australians? And, with successive Australian governments showing a sometimes lax attitude towards our international human rights obligations, what reason is there to believe that things might be different under a charter?
Join our panellists as they discuss what we owe each other, and ourselves, in terms of protecting our fundamental rights.
Presented in partnership with the Human Rights Law Centre.
Readings will be our bookseller for this event.
This event will be Auslan interpreted.
Featuring
Lee Carnie
Lee Carnie is a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre advocating for equality law reform and a national Charter of Human Rights, and the Director of Legal Advocacy at Equality Australia, Australia’s first national LGBTIQ+ legal advocacy and campaigning organisation. They are dedicated to tackling discrimination and building a movement for stronger human rights protections for all of us.
Lee has worked on strategic litigation, campaigns and advocacy for a range of equality law reforms across Australia, including the M106 High Court challenge to the marriage equality postal plebiscite, federal anti-discrimination protections, hate speech laws, birth certificate reforms and the Re Kelvin test case on access to hormone treatment for transgender young people.
Lee has previous experience in frontline advocacy, court representation and community education for people experiencing disadvantage, with a particular focus on youth homelessness, family violence, victims of crime, criminal law and poverty law. Lee has worked and volunteered for a range of community organisations, including the Liberty Victoria Rights Advocacy Project, Youthlaw, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, the Federation of Community Legal Centres, North Melbourne Legal Service, Hume Riverina Community Legal Service, Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, PILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic, Empowering Women of Nepal, Fitzroy Legal Service and Fitzroy Learning Network.
Lee was an Australian NGO representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2018, the LGBTI Pacific Youth Conference in 2017, and the LGBTI Human Rights Conference in Uruguay in 2016. Lee has a Juris Doctor of Law and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne, and was awarded the Thorne Harbour Health Greig Friday Young Leader Award in 2018, and the Edward Walter Outhwaite Award for Human Rights Lawyering in 2011.
Gillian Triggs
Gillian Triggs is former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, and the new Chair of Justice Connect, a non-profit dedicated to connecting people locked out of the justice system with free legal help. She is also Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Vice President of the Asian Development Bank Tribunal.
Gillian has combined an academic career with international commercial legal practice and has advised the Australian and other governments and international organisations on international legal and trade disputes. After her tenure with the HRC ended, Gillian joined Justice Connect as Chair to pursue her commitment to ensuring that all people have a fair chance to access justice, including people experiencing homelessness, elder abuse, family violence and financial exploitation. Post-HRC, Gillian is focused on helping lawyers ‘get out of the office’ and meet people who need legal help where they live. She is also the author of many books and papers on international law, including International Law, Contemporary Principles and Practices.
Gillian was Dean of the Faculty of Law and Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney from 2007-12 and Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law from 2005-07. She is a former barrister and a Governor of the College of Law. She graduated in Law from the University of Melbourne in 1968 and gained a PhD in 1982.
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Teela Reid
Teela Reid is a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman and lawyer. She has experience practicing in criminal, civil and administrative law. She was born and raised in Gilgandra western NSW and come from a family of advocates in the NSW Land rights movement.
Teela was involved as a working group leader on s 51(xxvi) in the Constitutional dialogue process that culminated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Previously, Teela was Australia’s Female Indigenous Youth Delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum in New York that inspired her journey to become a lawyer.
Teela completed her postgraduate Juris Doctor from UNSW Law Sydney and was named on the UNSW Law Deans Women of Excellence List. Upon graduation, Teela was appointed tipstaff to her Honour Justice Lucy McCallum in the NSW Supreme Court. Teela was the first Aboriginal person to be elected on the UNSW Law Society as Vice-President (Social Justice), where she was the founding director of the UNSW Law First Peoples Moot. She was also the Inaugural recipient of the NSW Indigenous Barristers Trust award.
In 2017, Teela was selected to attend Harvard University as a global Emerging Leader. On her return to Australia, Teela fearlessly took Prime Minister Turnbull to task on Q&A after his dismissal of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
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Kristen Hilton
Kristen Hilton commenced her role as Victoria’s Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner on 1 June 2016. In this role, Kristen leads a strategic and high impact policy agenda in support of organisational priorities through public interest litigation and other advocacystrategies. Prior to her appointment, Kristen was the Executive Director, Legal Practice, with Victoria Legal Aid and has previously worked with the organisation as Executive Director, Civil Justice and Access.
Kristen was previously the Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Clearing House and has extensive knowledge of current civil law and human rights issues and the needs of marginalised and disadvantaged individuals. She has practiced in the private profession and in a number of community legal centres including the PILCH Homeless Persons Legal Clinic. She received a Churchill Fellowship in 2007 and was honoured as the Law Institute Community Lawyer of the Year in 2006.