In March 2025 Greens MP Jenny Leong gave notice of a bill to establish a human rights Act in New South Wales (NSW). As at 1 August 2025, the bill had not been introduced. The bill is likely to be broadly based on human rights legislation enacted in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Victoria and Queensland. 

This paper outlines how human rights are currently protected, reviews the debate about human rights Acts in Australia, and examines the features and effectiveness of the human rights Acts in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland. ​​These jurisdictions adopted what is known as the ‘dialogue model’ of rights protection, which aims to facilitate a dialogue on human rights between the three arms of government – the executive, the parliament and the judiciary.

Key points

• There are some protections of human rights in NSW through the common law, the Australian Constitution, state and federal legislation, and a parliamentary scrutiny mechanism for bills.
• Three Australian jurisdictions have enacted human rights Acts: the ACT in 2004, Victoria in 2006 and Queensland in 2019.
• Most reviews of the three Acts have concluded that they are helping to protect and promote human rights. However, these reviews have identified a range of issues with the Acts and have made recommendations to improve their operation.