Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 2004 - LONG TITLE

An Act to respect, protect and promote human rights

Preamble

1 Human rights are necessary for individuals to live lives of dignity and value.

2 Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of individuals improves the welfare of the whole community.

3 Human rights are set out in this Act so that individuals know what their rights are.

4 Setting out these human rights also makes it easier for them to be taken into consideration in the development and interpretation of legislation.

5 This Act encourages individuals to see themselves, and each other, as the holders of rights, and as responsible for upholding the human rights of others.

6 Few rights are absolute. Human rights may be subject only to the reasonable limits in law that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. One individual's rights may also need to be weighed against another individual's rights.

7 Although human rights belong to all individuals, they have special significance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples—the first owners of this land, members of its most enduring cultures, and individuals for whom the issue of rights protection has great and continuing importance.

The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory therefore enacts as follows: