The Australian Human Rights Commission is the new name of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and was established in 1986 by an act of the federal Parliament as an independent statutory organisation reporting to the federal Parliament through the Attorney-General.
The Commission aims to promote and protect human rights in Australia by:
- making human rights values part of everyday life and language
- empowering all people to understand and exercise their human rights
- working with individuals, community, business and government to inspire action
- keeping government accountable to national and international human rights standards
- securing an Australian charter of rights