Ipswich residents’ human rights now have even greater protections thanks to a new Ipswich City Council policy.
Ipswich City Council’s Corporate Services general manager Sonia Cooper said the new Human Rights Policy demonstrates council’s commitment to protecting the community’s human rights.
“Each day we make decisions that could impact on a person’s human rights from our day-to-day service delivery to the policies we develop,” Ms Cooper said.
“This policy clearly outlines the expectations for how we will act and make decisions in a way that is compatible with people’s human rights.
“It’s an opportunity for us to increase the community’s trust in the work we do.”
The policy, which applies to all councillors, council employees and agents of council that fall within the category of a public entity, also offers an avenue for human rights complaints to be made by individuals.
“In accordance with legislation, our policy ensures that protecting people’s human rights is a key focus in all our decision making, and that any potential imposition on a person’s human rights is subject to checks and balances,” she said.
“If a person believes a council decision unjustifiably limits their human rights, they are entitled to make a complaint to us via our usual complaints process.
What are human rights?
Human rights are inherent to all people, irrespective of their background, where they live, what they look like, what they think and what they believe.
Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019 protects 23 fundamental human rights.
Learn more on the Queensland Human Rights Commission’s website.
“We will work to ensure any human rights complaints are fully understood, and will investigate all the information surrounding them.”
Ms Cooper said the policy was introduced in response to Queensland’s new Human Rights Act, which came into effect earlier this year.
“The Act replaces a previous ‘patchwork’ approach whereby people’s human rights were protected by a range of anti-discrimination legislation,” she said.
“The new Act protects a broader range of fundamental rights for all individuals.
“Ipswich City Council is proud to be proactively adopting this approach.”
