KEY POINTS OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE QUEENSLAND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION:
* 369 formal human rights complaints were lodged against public entities and 344 were finalized in 2020/21
* 151 complaints were accepted, while 193 were withdrawn or rejected due to lack of prior internal complaint or lack of detail or substance.
* 47 of the accepted complaints were resolved by early intervention or conciliation and 34 were withdrawn.
* Current resolutions included an apology, a promise to train individuals or the workforce, compensation or a policy change or review.
* 70 complaints remained unresolved after conciliation, including 26 referred to the courts, 42 not referred and two reported by the commission.
* 34 accepted complaints had not been finalized at the time of the report.
ABOUT COMPLAINTS:
* The three most common complaints concerned equal rights before the law, humane treatment in cases of deprivation of liberty and freedom of movement.
* Complaints about the right to equality before the law probably concerned discrimination in all cases.
* The right to humane treatment in cases of deprivation of liberty generally applies to prisons and other closed environments, but COVID-19 has resulted in a “significant number of complaints filed by people quarantined in a hotel”.
* Complaints about the right to free movement were also higher due to restrictions such as blockades and border closures due to COVID-19.
WHO MADE THE COMPLAINTS:
* 50.57 percent were male and 49.2 percent were female, while 0.23 percent did not identify with either gender.
* The largest proportion of applicants were aged 35 to 54.
* About 74 per cent of complainants were born in Australia and 26 per cent were born abroad, mainly in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
* 10.5% of the plaintiffs were Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, which the commission said is “significant” given that indigenous people make up 4.0% of Queensland’s population.
Source: Queensland Human Rights Commission
