Human Rights Scrutiny in the Australian Parliament

This thesis assesses the Australian Government’s Human Rights Framework, a suite of policy measures introduced in 2010 in response to the National Human Rights Consultation. In particular, it focusses on the enhanced legislative scrutiny regime, involving Statements of Compatibility with Human Rights and the work of the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, which commenced operation in 2012. It places this regime in the context of other national and international rights protection mechanisms, and evaluates the impact it has had in its first four years of operation.