Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Shadow report to the CERD Committee – 8 July 2010 1 Introduction 1. This submission was prepared by Australian Human Rights Commission (formerly named the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) 1 . This submission provides information in relation to the Australian Government’s combined 15th, 16th and 17th periodic report under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). 2. All of the material included in this document has been previously brought to the attention of the Australian Government through a range of Commission publications and submissions. 2 3. The Australian Human Rights Framework The Government released the Australian Human Rights Framework in 2010. It commits to human rights education for the community and public sector; developing a National Action Plan on Human Rights; establishing a federal parliamentary scrutiny committee on human rights requiring that all new federal legislation be accompanied by a statement of compatibility with Australia’s human rights obligations; and developing a consolidated federal anti-discrimination law. These measures will contribute to improved protection of human rights in Australia. The Framework will address some, but not all, of the weaknesses in Australia’s human rights protection system, such as guaranteed protection against racial discrimination. 3 The Social Inclusion Agenda as a national policy priority 4. In 2009 the Australian Government launched the Social Inclusion Agenda, which is a whole-of-government policy. The Agenda is coordinated through the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. 5. The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomes the development of the Social Inclusion Agenda and the establishment of the Australian Government Social Inclusion Board. 6. The Australian Human Rights Commission notes the submission we provided to the Compendium of Social Inclusion Indicators feedback process in September 2009. This submission focused on the race and cultural diversity dimensions of social inclusion and how this could be properly measured. 7. The Australian Government’s social inclusion priorities include: • • • • • • supporting children at greatest risk of long term disadvantage helping jobless families with children focusing on the locations of greatest disadvantage assisting in the employment of people with disability or mental illness addressing the issue of homelessness closing the gap for Indigenous Australians. 4