Advocacy & Law Reform

Dr Elena Aydos and Dr Sven Rudolph, Scientific Advisor on Climate and Energy Policy at Institut fuer Kirche und Gesellschaft (IKG), have collaboratively authored a submission in response to the public consultation on the Review of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) by New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment - Manatū mō te Taiao. The submission emphasizes the importance of driving greenhouse gas emissions reductions through the NZ ETS and makes a series of recommendations for a significant review of the NZ ETS. These proposals are designed not only to achieve sustainable reductions in gross emissions, but also to uphold principles of social justice and climate justice.

While the authors acknowledge the important role of forestry in helping New Zealand meet its emissions targets and commitments, they argue that the crediting of large volumes of forestry NZUs under the NZ ETS is actually deteriorating the incentives to reduce gross emissions from traditional polluting sectors. This is also affecting the government’s capacity to control the overall limit of industrial emissions through the cap. A critical aspect of the submission therefore involves the proposition for the establishment of a distinct scheme dedicated to sustainable emissions removal activities. By doing so, the NZ ETS would be best placed to achieve the overarching goal of gross emissions reduction. This change may take several years to implement. In the short-term, the submission recommends a number of transitional measures, including the review of the phase-out rates for free of charge industrial allocation, quantitative restrictions on the forestry NZUs that can be used for surrender obligations, and the vintaging of forestry NZUs, including those units in the stockpile.

The authors also advocate that the distributional effects of higher energy prices on households should be primarily mitigated by earmarking auction revenues. In line with current practices in California and proposals for the new European ETS2, the authors recommend a combination of an equal per capita redistribution (carbon dividend) for the most part and a small-share targeted regressivity compensation for the poorest. The submission also refers to recent studies in Germany that have shown that a per capita equal climate dividend can mitigate the biggest part of the ETS regressivity. Learn more.

The Centre for Law and Social Justice co-authored a submission to the Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework. The submission demonstrates a need for a comprehensive human rights framework, including a national Human Rights Act, to guide decision making, prevent breaches of human rights, and give people power to take action when their rights have been breached.  The submission recommends the federal Parliament pass a Human Rights Act that reflects the full range of Australia's International legal obligations. Particularly to the rights of the most vulnerable people and communities in Australian society. This submission covers;  Australia's human rights framework, business and human rights, and human rights for groups with particular vulnerabilities namely, First Nations Peoples, Refugees and Asylum Seekers, LGBTQI+ people and Persons with Disability. The submission can also be accessed on the Australian Parliament website (submission 185). Learn more.

The Centre for Law and Social Justice's Right to Education Research Team, coordinated a submission to the Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework. The submission  argues that; a federal Human Rights Act should be enacted adopting the dialogue model, that the federal Human Rights Act should incorporate not only civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural rights (including the right to education) and that it should establish a mechanism for resolving human rights complaints, including access to courts and effective remedies where appropriate to achieve justice. The lead author of the submission was the Centre's research assistant, Claire Dudgeon. The submission can also be accessed on the Australian Parliament website (submission 185.1). Learn more.

Dr Elena Aydos and Dr Sven Rudolph, Scientific Advisor on Climate and Energy Policy at Institut fuer Kirche und Gesellschaft (IKG), co-authored a submission to New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment - Manatū mō te Taiao, in response to a public consultation on proposed updates to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme limits and price control settings for units for the period between 2024-2028. The submission recommended updates to auction volumes and the disablement of the cost containment reserve in order to strengthen the environmental and economic sustainability of the NZ ETS. The submission also argued that the earmarking of auction revenues to mitigate detrimental social effects caused by the ETS, such as compensating low-income households and disadvantaged communities for the possible regressivity of higher energy prices, can increase the social justice and climate justice of the scheme. Learn more.

On March 2023, the Centre for Law and Social Justice joined Welcoming Disability, Down Syndrome Australia and the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR), calling for urgent reform of Australia's migration health laws to remove their discriminatory impact on people with disabilities and health conditions. Learn more.

The Centre for Law and Social Justice has joined the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, and 70 leading organisations and individuals, by signing the statement condemning the NSW & QLD governments clear breaches of OPCAT obligations, which has forced suspension of the UN Subcommittee on Torture's visit to Australia. Learn more.

Amy Maguire, with assistance from PhD candidate Bethany Butchers, coordinated a co-authored submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which was inquiring into the potential incorporation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Co-authors included 11 students from the course Indigenous Peoples, Issues and the Law, who researched across several issue areas relevant to Indigenous legal rights in Australian law and practice. The submission argued for the implementation of the Declaration in Australia, and endorsed the Uluru agenda as established in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Learn more.

On 21 May 2022, most adult Australians voted in the Federal Election. However, there is a whole section of our community who can be removed from the Electoral Roll and disallowed from having their say, people deemed to be of "unsound mind." The Centre for Law and Social Justice has joined the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and 65 legal, disability and civil society organisations calling for action to protect the right of people with disability to vote in line with Australia's international human rights law obligations and recommendations for reform made by the Australian law Reform Commission (ALRC) in 2014. Learn more.

On 29 March 2022, Amy Maguire was invited to attend a virtual event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which is part of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) special procedures framework. Amy Maguire was invited by Ms Leigh Toomey, the outgoing Australian expert member of the WGAD. The session was opened by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights and former President of Chile. It was co-hosted by the Ambassador of France to the UN in Geneva. The focus was on the protection of human rights defenders from intimidation, reprisals, and arbitrary detention. This opportunity arose after Amy Maguire contacted Leigh Toomey regarding the current issue of conscientious objection to military service for men who are not permitted to leave Ukraine. Amy Maguire, with assistance from research assistant Zar Chavla, submitted to the OHCHR inquiry on conscientious objection. Learn more.