UN Treaty bodies have repeatedly concluded that core treaties have not been adequately incorporated into Australia’s legal system. Many of Australia’s commitments to human rights are confined to rhetoric without corresponding domestic protections. The need for a Human Rights Act can be summed up in one simple statement: people’s human rights matter all of the time. Government that is here to serve the people, should consider their impact on people whenever they make decisions. • The current rights framework in Australia is not easily explainable, or readily comprehensible, to all people in Australia. The above patchwork of rights is difficult to explain to everyday Australians, whose rights are meant to be protected. Not only should the law afford appropriate protection to the people of Australia, but it should be capable of being understood by all. • A Human Rights Act for Australia is an evolution not a revolution Human Rights Acts have been passed in three states and territories in Australia and been in operation since 2004. Throughout this paper there are references to case studies of how a Human Rights Act has made a positive difference to the protection of human rights in these jurisdictions, as well as in the multiple countries that have introduced such legislation over the past 20 years. 12 The proposed model for a federal Human Rights Act builds on the success and lessons from these existing models, while also tailoring a Human Rights Act to the specific constitutional requirements of Australia. The proposed model for a Human Rights Act set out in this paper also seeks to build on the lessons from the Australian Human Rights Commission having administered a human rights and ILO 111 complaints handling stream under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) (AHRC Act) since 1986. There are deficiencies to how these complaint processes operate, which limit their effectiveness. In the Commission’s model for a Human Rights Act, these existing human rights complaint streams would be replaced with a much clearer set of rights in the HRA. By learning from the lessons of other models, and building on the legacy of the AHRC Act processes that have been in domestic law for 36 years, the Commission’s proposal for a Human Rights Act is an evolution not a revolution.