A report recommending that the South Australian Government legislate a Human Rights Act has been tabled in the state's parliament.
Tabled by the Social Development Committee of the South Australian Parliament following a 16-month review, the report calls for the Government to transition the Equal Opportunities Commission to a Human Rights Commission, as well as consolidating "various rights and protections afforded to citizens in the many legislative instruments" into one Human Rights Act.
It recommended the Government conduct a "comprehensive consultation" with the community on the model of the Human Rights Act to be adopted.
The Committee said they heard South Australia has "not kept up" with other states and territories, nor with "the majority of other OECD countries and advanced democracies" in the "progression of human rights and the modernisation of discrimination law".
"Many submissions agreed a Human Rights Act for South Australia should, as a starting point, contain the rights already identified in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the seven UN Human Rights Treaties, to which Australia is a signatory, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)," the Committee said.
SNAICC - National Voice for our Children, the peak body representing the rights and interests of Indigenous children, said they welcomed the recommendation by the Committee.
"This is a vital step toward embedding human rights into public policy — helping to safeguard the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people," SNAICC said in a statement.
"We urge the South Australian Government to act on these recommendations and deliver meaningful protections for our children and communities."
In a submission, the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHCSA) advised the committee that the current "fragmented" approach to human rights "fails to effectively prevent or shield people from harm or rights violations".
The state's Guardian for Children and Young People, Shona Reid, submitted that while undertaking her role, she observed a "consistent and alarming lack of responsiveness in South Australia towards protecting, respecting, and fulfilling the human rights of children and young people in care and detention".
Furthermore, she argued that "considerable work is required to refocus relevant laws and policies towards treating children and young people, first and foremost, as rights holders".
National Indigenous Times previously reported Ms Reid had argued the South Australian government's response to feedback on proposed child safety legislation had been "lukewarm, at best", whilst she also lambasted the same government for failing to reply to a report sharing the voices of children and young people in detention.
Whilst the act is seen a forward step, the guarantee of Human Rights set out in the act has been ignored explicitly in Queensland in recent months, sounding a warning for the long-term viability of such legislation.
The new LNP government has suspended it to allow children as young as ten to face life in prison and be held in adult watch houses, with one legal expert telling this publication the act isn't worth "the paper it is written on".
The protection of Indigenous children across the country has been at the forefront of organisations' concerns, with the number of children being incarcerated or removed from their families increasing.
South Australia has the highest rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in residential care and on long-term orders, with the lowest rate of family reunification, compared to other jurisdictions, Ashum Owen from Wakwakurna Kanyini, the state's peak body for Indigenous children, advised the Committee.
SNAICC submitted that while Australia has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Australian government continues to hold a reservation to the section requiring that children are not detained with adults.
They said the UN had "repeatedly raised concerns about the low age of criminal responsibility, the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the justice system, their placement with adults in detention, and the number of children with disabilities in the justice system".
"Given the vulnerability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children's rights, SNAICC supports efforts to strengthen the discourse and protection of human rights in South Australia through legislation, policy and practice," SNAICC said in their submission.
"Requirements which compel the government to consider human rights impacts when developing, introducing and implementing legislation, policy and practice are pathways to ensure human rights are protected and upheld."
Last year, the SA government was criticised by Indigenous and Human Rights groups for only "considering" raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12, despite an Advisory Commission into Incarceration Rates of Aboriginal People - set up by the government - explicitly recommending the age be raised to 14.
A state government spokesperson told National Indigenous Times in September the SA government does not have a policy position to raise the age, but any action taken would put community safety at the forefront.
