Currently, Australia tends to deal with human rights breaches after the fact, for example through Royal Commissions and the limited pathway of AHRC Act complaints. Sometimes, vast, unexpected costs arise as a result of a failure to consider human rights at an early Cost of Royal Commissions vs Cost of Victorian Charter Royal Commissions are very costly. The Law Council submitted the following figures. • the Royal Commission into Aged Care will cost the Australian Government $104 million over four years.144 • the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse cost about $500 million.145 • the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the Disability Royal Commission) will cost $527 million.146 • the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory (NT Royal Commission) jointly cost the Northern Territory and Federal Governments $54 million.147 Meanwhile, the costs of implementing the Victorian Charter was submitted by Queensland Advocacy Incorporated. The 2011 review of the Victorian Charter was the first review for a human rights act in Australia. It provided detailed information regarding economic costs, found that, over the first five years of its operation (from 2006–7 to 2010–11 financial years), the total economic cost of the Charter was $13,488,750.148 This was comprised of the following: stage. An example of this is Robodebt which led to a class action resulting in a record $1.8 billion settlement, and prompted its own Royal Commission.143 Dealing with human rights issues early has obvious economic benefits. • Establishment of the Human Rights Unit within the Department of Justice ($3,405,185) • Funding for VEOHRC’s (Victorian Equal Opportunity Human Rights Commission) charter-related work ($3,326,000) • Grants provided by the Department of Justice for Charter education and legal advice ($971,362) • Other identified human rights staff in the Victorian Public Service ($754,379) • Charter-related training and the development of resources ($160,665) • Legal advice obtained for the initial audit of legislation in preparation for the introduction of the Charter and drafting of statutory provisions or general legal advice in relation to the Charter ($272,971) • Legal advice obtained for the preparation of statements of compatibility ($470,339) • Charter-related litigation involving the Department of Justice, DHS and Victoria Police ($952,373) • The cost of conducting the review of the Charter was estimated at $130,000. This amounts to a total cost of $0.50 per Victorian resident.149 Extracted from Law Council of Australia and Queensland Advocacy Incorporated submissions to Free & Equal • Charter implementation funding for certain departments and agencies (Corrections Victoria, Department of Human Services and Victoria Police) ($2,549,000) FREE AND EQUAL A Human Rights Act for Australia 2022 93