consultation, considering a variety of options
and alternatives and then designing appropriate
strategies through review and feedback.
community understanding of Aboriginal identity
and culture can and does lead to discrimination.
In partnership with the Bunjilaka Aboriginal
Cultural Centre at the Melbourne Museum, the
Commission will develop an online resource to
build a richer community understanding and
appreciation of Aboriginal identity, culture and
history in Victoria. It will address a number of
common myths and misconceptions, providing
an accessible way for non-Indigenous people to
find answers to questions they may feel unable
to ask. The online resource will also support
public authorities to understand and meet their
legal responsibilities under the Charter, as well
as provide links to training and resources that
promote cultural understanding and foster
cultural safety in the provision of services.
services to the community
to identify where the community's human rights
may be affected and to ensure that any limitations
on human rights are reasonable. These issues
commonly come to the attention of government
departments during their project design and
consultation processes.
Development told us that:
public authorities to identify potential human
rights concerns in advance, prior to the
implementation of any proposed projects or
policies. It requires authorities to give equal
consideration to what a particular policy or
project is intended to do and how it will do it.
consider the rights recognised in the Charter
when developing new policies. For example, the
Department of Sustainability and Environment's
Indigenous Partnership Framework sets out
a policy to facilitate effective participation of
Aboriginal people in land and natural resource
management. This Framework supports and
respects Charter rights relating to equality and
recognition of the distinct cultural rights of
Aboriginal people in Victoria.
rights in their policies and procedures such as
human resources policies and disability action
and inclusion plans and in their local laws.
These documents not only include a public
commitment to Charter rights, they also shape
decision-making with the organisations. For
instance, Moreland City Council has incorporated
"human rights consideration" into its policy
template. When using the template, the council
officer is required to state whether the impacts
of the policy have been assessed in accordance
with the Charter.
worked with stakeholders to improve the
protection of children's interests under the
Mandatory Code of Practice for the Employment
of Children in Entertainment. The Code supports
children's rights, recognised in section 17 of the
Charter, by protecting children from performing
work that could be harmful to their health or
safety, to their welfare or development or to their
attendance at school. The Department consulted
widely to consider improvements to the Code.
stakeholders can assist public authorities to
incorporate human rights principles in their day-
to-day operations. When consultation occurs with
the people affected by their decisions, public
authorities become more aware of the ways
that decisions may impact on a person's human
rights. Drawing on this information, alternative
approaches can be developed that result in
better outcomes.
undertaken extensive consultation to understand
the strengths and weaknesses of the current
legislative regime for the assessment, detention
and compulsory treatment of people with severe
mental illness, as set out in the Mental Health
Act 1986. This consultation informed the reform
objectives to guide the development of the new
legislation. A paper was released setting out the
reform objectives, which also recognised the
contribution of affected groups to the design
and implementation of the reform. The proposed
reforms aim to safeguard the rights and dignity of
people with mental illness, enhance oversight of
compulsory treatment and support improvements
to services.