Human Rights Commission Act 2005

The main object of the Act is to promote the human rights and welfare of people living in the ACT.

The main object is to be achieved by establishing a commission that will—

promote the provision of community education, information and advice in relation to human rights; and

identify and examine issues that affect the human rights and welfare of vulnerable groups in the community; and

make recommendations to government and non-government agencies on legislation, policies, practices and services that affect vulnerable groups in the community; and

promote understanding and acceptance of, and compliance with, the Discrimination Act 1991 and the Human Rights Act 2004; and

acknowledge, protect and promote the rights of victims; and

promote the protection of children and young people and people with a disability from abuse and exploitation; and

promote environments that are safe for children and young people by—

promoting the child safe standards prescribed under section 94V; and

encouraging providers of services for children and young people to uphold the standards; and

promote improvements in the provision of prescribed services; and

promote the rights of users of prescribed services; and

promote an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of users and providers of services to which this Act relates; and

provide an independent, fair and accessible process for the resolution of discrimination complaints, human rights complaints and complaints between users and providers of prescribed services; and

provide a process to encourage and assist users and providers of prescribed services to make improvements in the provision of services, particularly by encouraging and assisting service users and providers to contribute to the review and improvement of service quality; and

foster community discussion, and the provision of community education and information, about—

this Act and related Acts; and

the operation of the commission; and

the procedures for making complaints.