'The Human Rights Act 2019: New Thinking on Business and Human Rights in Queensland' (14 May 2019)

'The Human Rights Act 2019: New Thinking on Business and Human Rights in Queensland' (14 May 2019)

My paper focuses on human rights in a changing political environment in the particular context of Queensland, examining the new Human Rights Bill that was introduced into the Queensland Parliament on 31 October 2018. I propose in this paper to give a brief introduction to the content, scope and operative provisions of the soon-to-be-enacted Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld), explaining its rights, complaints procedures and new human rights regime under the stewardship of the Queensland Human Rights Commission (formerly the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland), which will be given additional functions and powers under the Human Rights Act 2019.

More specifically, my paper also proposes to examine what the new legislation may mean for businesses in Queensland. At first glance, the Human Rights Bill appears to bind only public entities: one of its main objects is ‘to help build a culture in the Queensland public sector that respects and promotes human rights’ (cl 3(b)) and the main objects are to be achieved primarily by ‘requiring public entities to act and make decisions in a way compatible with human rights’ (cl 4(b)).

However, like its predecessors in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (‘ACT’), the Queensland Human Rights Act is likely to be interpreted in ways that will also bind business. In those jurisdictions, human rights obligations have been understood to apply to private entities, depending on whether they perform functions of a public nature (for example, perform functions connected to those of government, or are publicly funded). The Queensland Bill may have a similar effect, with cl 10 defining when an entity’s function is of a public nature for the purposes of the Act. The Victorian and ACT legislation has also guided statutory interpretation so that provisions expressed in general terms must be interpreted consistently with human rights, even when they are applied to a corporation. Cl 4(f) of the Queensland Bill similarly requires ‘courts and tribunals to interpret statutory provisions, to the extent possible that is consistent with their purpose, in a way compatible with human rights’. Businesses in Queensland may find that they are bound by human rights obligations under the interpretative provisions of Queensland’s Human Rights Act.

This paper discusses clauses of the Queensland Human Rights Act that may be relevant to businesses. With reference to Victorian and ACT legislation and case law, it draws some conclusions about the likely extent of their human rights obligations.

[Note: My paper is based on the provisions of the Human Rights Bill 2018. The Bill is currently before the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee, which is due to report back on 4 February 2019. It appears likely that the Queensland Parliament will vote on the Bill in early February 2019. However, if there are substantive amendments to the Bill, my proposed paper may also have to be changed to reflect the amendments.]