Zaneta Mascarenhas MP

House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra
Committee Report

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, I present the committee's report entitled Human rights scrutiny report: report 4 of 2025.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I am pleased to table the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights' fourth scrutiny report of 2025 and the first of the new 48th Parliament.

Before speaking to the substance of this report, I'd like to highlight the important role of this committee and welcome new and continuing committee members, including the deputy chair, the member for McPherson. The committee has been operating for 13 years and it is one of three scrutiny committees that exist in the federal parliament. It has a unique statutory mandate to examine all bills and legislative instruments that come before either house of the parliament for compatibility with Australia's core international human rights obligations and inquire into any human rights matters referred to it by the Attorney-General. Additionally, in 2023 the committee was given the statutory function to review compulsory income management for its compatibility with human rights. The committee's legislative scrutiny function is to inform both houses of parliament as to the compatibility of proposed and existing Australian legislation with international human rights laws. The committee does not consider the broad policy merits of legislation when performing its scrutiny function. The committee generally pursues its scrutiny function through dialogue with the executive. Where legislation raises a human rights concern that is not adequately explained in accompanying statements of compatibility, the committee may seek further information from the minister, including on whether a proposed limitation on a human right is justifiable.

The dialogue model is evidenced in the committee's fourth scrutiny report. In this report the committee has considered 64 bills, some of which have been reintroduced or restored to the Notice Paper, and 469 legislative instruments. Of these, the committee is seeking further information in relation to seven bills and one instrument. In this report, the committee is seeking further information in relation to the two ASIO bills. These bills seek to extend and make permanent the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's compulsory questioning powers framework and expand the matters that are considered to be 'adult questioning matters'. The committee has previously raised human rights concerns in relation to the compulsory questioning powers framework, noting that it engages and limits multiple human rights, including rights of privacy, liberty, freedom of movement, fair trial and freedom of expression as well as rights of persons with disability and children's rights. As such, the committee is seeking further information from the Minister for Home Affairs about the compatibility of these measures with multiple human rights.

Additionally, the committee is seeking further information in relation to the Biosecurity (Entry Requirements) Determination 2025. The instrument sets requirements for individuals entering Australia who have been in yellow fever risk regions and for individuals who may be, or may have been, infected with a listed human disease. To the extent the measures assist in preventing the spread of human disease in Australian territory, the committee considers this will promote the right to health. However, the committee notes that, by requiring individuals to provide personal information to officials to be screened by equipment, these measures may engage and limit the right to privacy. The committee also notes that the measures may engage and limit other human rights to the extent that they trigger powers relating to human biosecurity controls under the Biosecurity Act. To the extent that the measures can apply to children and people with disability, the rights of these groups would also be engaged and limited. The committee is seeking further information from the Minister for Health and Ageing to assess the compatibility of these measures with human rights.

In this report, the committee also considers the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. The committee commented on this bill in previous parliaments in relation to the right to privacy and recommended that the statement of compatibility be updated to include a more fulsome assessment of this right. Statements of compatibility serve as an important starting point for the committee's assessment of the human rights compatibility of legislation. The committee welcomes the additional information provided in the statement of compatibility accompanying this bill but also notes that it retains underlying human rights concerns with the bills.

I look forward to working as chair with all the members of this committee and the hardworking and talented secretariat and Professor Mowbray. With these comments, I commend the committee's scrutiny report 4 of 2025 to the House.

View on Hansard