3. A Human Rights Act for Australia (b) Summary – key elements of a national Human Rights Act Table 4 sets out the key elements of the Commission’s proposed national Human Rights Act. Table 4: Summary of key features of proposed national Human Rights Act The Human Rights Act (HRA) should be a ‘dialogue’ model, that preserves parliamentary sovereignty but necessitates consideration of human rights at all stages of decision making processes The HRA should incorporate rights derived from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and include a right to a healthy environment (drawn from the above instruments) The HRA should reflect key rights and principles contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples There should be a positive duty on public authorities to act compatibly with human rights The scope of public authorities should include core executive bodies and contractors /entities providing public services The positive duty should be implemented alongside a comprehensive education and training program for public authorities The HRA should include key procedural duties – a ‘participation duty’ and an ‘access to justice’ duty It should also account for technological decision-making The HRA should apply to all within Australia’s federal jurisdiction The HRA should provide guidance about how rights in the HRA should be interpreted. The HRA should provide guidance to courts about how they should interpret legislation in light of the human rights contained within the HRA. The HRA should include a limitations clause describing the circumstances in which human rights may be permissibly limited. The HRA should include a mechanism to provide notification to Parliament regarding laws that are incompatible with human rights, for further consideration by Parliament The HRA should include a standalone cause of action for all rights, with remedies as considered appropriate by the courts The HRA should allow a person to make a human rights complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission or for the administrative review of a decision about them There should be representative standing under the HRA The HRA should be subject to periodic reviews to ensure its effective operation Existing Parliamentary scrutiny mechanisms should be improved alongside the introduction of an HRA The Commission should be granted additional powers to enable education measures and compliance with the HRA For a comprehensive overview of the features of the Commission’s proposed national Human Rights Act, see Appendix 2 of this report. Each key element of the model is now described in this chapter. FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 53