Queensland human rights timeline

Frontier wars – violent conflicts between Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples and European settlers.

Regulation No 31 of 1866 was gazetted, imposing a duty on armed officers to disperse any large assembly of blacks without unnecessary violence . The intent of the Queensland colonial government was to use a necessary degree of pre-emptive violence – including lethal force – to disperse Aboriginal groups.

Shearers’ strike – first major industrial dispute (about wage cuts) – clashes between unionists and non-union labour – call for a political party to represent interests of working people.

Pacific Island labourers were brought to work in Queensland (by force, trickery, or as indentured labour) – paid well below European workers.

Women achieved the right to vote in state elections, though Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not until 1965.

Anti-conscription (compulsory military service) protest – 10,000 workers went on strike for the day; Queensland voted against conscription in the plebiscite later in 1916 and a second plebiscite in 1917 was also defeated.

Death penalty abolished in Queensland.

Two World Wars changed Australian society – women filled jobs in primary and secondary industry left by men – the post-WWII migration push to populate or perish saw the first government-sanctioned non-British migrants – the United Nations was created to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and reaffirm faith in human rights – Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed in 1948 – set out fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

Free universal public hospital treatment introduced in Queensland.

Mine Inquiries: Collinsville State Coal Mine 1954 (7 deaths); Moura (36 deaths in 3 incidents) – 1975, 1986, 1994; – Mine Safety Board of Inquiry 2020 (40 methane gas incidents in previous year).

Palm Island strike – residents protested against poor health, housing, wages, and working conditions.

Westbook Farm Home for Boys investigation – found excessive punishments and assaults, and a retributive and repressive atmosphere, while the intended purpose was rehabilitative and reformative.

Living under the Act – Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples were removed from their homelands; had all basic freedoms removed, families broken up, children taken away, forbidden to use language and practice culture; work was controlled as well as access to money and how it could be spent.

Referendum – Australia voted to amend the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people, and for them to be included in the Census.

Student marches and protests – a time of social change during which people from a range of backgrounds were prepared to defy authority for causes including anti-conscription, anti-Vietnam war, and anti-uranium mining; ban on street marches imposed; police arrests made under the Traffic Act.

Ban on married women as permanent employees in Queensland public sector lifted.

First moratoriums (halt to business as usual) – protest against involvement in Vietnam war and conscription.

Springbok (South African rugby) football tour – anti-Apartheid protests; Premier declared month-long state of emergency.

Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) commenced– implements Australia’s obligations under the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination – which promotes equality regardless of race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, and makes it unlawful to discriminate on this basis.

Cedar Bay (far north Queensland) – police, narcotics, and customs officials raided a hippie commune ; dwellings burnt down; food crops, and clothing destroyed.

Street marches banned – invoked for anti-uranium mining protests.

United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons – focused on rights of persons with disability; shift to a human rights-based focus on eliminating barriers, promoting social inclusion, and civic participation of persons with disability.

Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women – established agenda for action on women’s issues (equality, domestic violence, girls’ equal participation, non-traditional occupations, reproductive rights).

HIV epidemic reached Australia – stigma, discrimination, and marginalisation of people living with HIV prevalent.

Our Homeless Children – report of the National Inquiry into Homeless Children by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity (later the Australian Human Rights Commission) found a large number of children were denied adequate housing and protection from neglect, cruelty, and exploitation.

Kennedy report on prison, probation, and parole reform (Commission of review into Corrective Services in Queensland) – recommended doing away with Boggo Road prison, renaming prisons correctional centres , greater use of community corrections, home detention, and release to work programs, and to establish official visitors.

Australia ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment .

Homosexuality decriminalised in Queensland.

Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child .

Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) – the first state Act to provide wide-ranging anti-discrimination protection for people in Queensland.

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody – investigated and made recommendations on 27 deaths in custody in Queensland between 1980 and 1989 in the final report.

Ward 10B inquiry (Carter Commission of Inquiry) – into care and treatment of patients in the psychiatric unit, Townsville General Hospital; found treatment was, in many respects, negligent, unsafe, unethical, and unlawful acts; 65 patients died in circumstances which justified close investigation.

Peaceful Assembly Act 1992 (Qld) replaced police permits for street marches.

Health Rights Commission established – became the Office of the Health Ombudsman in 2014.

Freedom of Information Act 1992 (Qld) – government required to make documents about a person available to them, and to ensure the information is accurate – later replaced by the Right to information Act 2009 and the Information Privacy Act 2009 .

Mabo case – High Court decision that overturned the concept of terra nullius.

Murrandoo Yanner case – High Court recognised hunting, gathering, and fishing rights for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Queensland by exercising native title rights.

Compulsory age retirement effectively abolished in Queensland under the Anti-Discrimination Act .

Stewart report on the Basil Stafford Centre (which provided accommodation and care for intellectually disabled people) – recommended closure; found assault, client abuse, and neglect linked to an insidious institutional culture .

Wik case – High Court held that statutory leases do not extinguish native title rights.

Bringing Them Home – report on the National Inquiry into Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and community.

Forde Inquiry report – Commission of Inquiry into abuse, mistreatment or neglect of children in Queensland institutions from 1911; found emotional, physical, sexual, and systems abuse; breaches relating to food, clothing, education, and corporal punishment.

Family responsibilities added as a ground for discrimination under the Anti-Discrimination Act.

Gender identity added as a ground for discrimination under the Anti-Discrimination Act.

Same-sex couples recognized in Queensland legislation – de facto partners (regardless of sexual orientation) achieved rights and obligations consistent with married spouses.

Queensland Government established Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme for unpaid, missing, or misused wages, savings, and trust funds of Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Heritage Act 2003 – enacted to provide effective recognition, protection, and conservation of cultural heritage, including a requirement for Cultural Heritage Management Plans over land.

Protecting children – inquiry into abuse of children in foster care conducted by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (which became the Crime and Corruption Commission in 2014) – recommended systemic change and child-focused protective services.

Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry – report found conduct that appears to constitute criminal offences and a sustained path of injury and death at Bundaberg Base Hospital .

Apology to the Stolen Generations – federal government apologised to Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples for past laws, practices, and policies of forcible removal.

Australia ratified the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – a major advance for the disability rights movement.

First national Paid Parental Leave scheme commenced, allowing working parents to receive paid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child.

Self-harm is the leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 24 (Australian Bureau of Statistics data).

Apology for past forced adoption policies and practices delivered by the Queensland Parliament.

Taking responsibility – report of the Child Protection Commission of Inquiry review of the child protection system and support for vulnerable children and young people in Queensland. It concluded the system didn’t ensure safety, wellbeing, and best interests of children as best it could.

Same-sex couples and single people became eligible to adopt children.

Lex Wotton High Court Challenge – High Court ruled on acts of racial discrimination in the investigation of the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee.

Australia ratified the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) – Australia agreed to establish an independent National Preventive Mechanism to conduct inspections of all places of detention and closed environments, and international inspections of places of detention by the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture.

Aboriginal children are 8 times as likely to be in child protection system as non-Indigenous children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).

Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) – introduced reporting requirements on businesses to address modern slavery risks (servitude, child labour, forced labour, human trafficking, debt bondage, slavery-like practices, forced marriage, and deceptive recruiting).

17-year-olds to be dealt with in the youth justice system in Queensland, rather than the adult system from 2018.

Women in Prison reports, 2006 and 2019, by Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland and later the Queensland Human Rights Commission – law, policy, and practices affecting the detention of women in prison were examined against international human rights standards.

Detention of children for prolonged periods in Brisbane’s maximum security police watch house attracted national condemnation.

The Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) came into full effect – affording broad humans rights protections to people in Queensland, including rights to education and to health services, and specifically protecting cultural rights of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

COVID-19 pandemic – declaration of a Public Health Emergency and Public Health Directions that severely restricted movement and other rights.

Meriba Omasker Kaziw Kazipz Act 2020 (Qld) – was passed by the Queensland Parliament to provide legal recognition of Torres Strait Islander families’ use of traditional child rearing practice.