Human rights acknowledge your essential value regardless of who you are, what you look like, what your background is, or what you think or believe. Human rights are built on the concepts of autonomy, equality and mutual respect. They recognise your individual dignity.
All people have human rights equally because they are human beings. No one can take your human rights away from you and for this reason human rights are described as being universal and inherent.
Human rights laws are a way of formally recognising and protecting your human rights. Recognising and protecting human rights in law is important in a democratic and inclusive society that recognises the dignity and worth of all people.
However human rights can be subject to certain reasonable limits. Whether a human right can be limited depends on the purpose and nature of the limitation. Sometimes the human rights of one person may conflict with the human rights of another person and this means sometimes different human rights need to be balanced against each other. There is no hierarchy of human rights. All human rights have equal status. They are indivisible.
Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders hold distinct cultural rights and are the first owners of this land. We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have retained strong culture and connection to this land, and they must not be denied the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their culture and to have their traditional connections recognised and valued.
Our goal is to work closely and in consultation with communities to ensure continued recognition for and protection of their human rights and cultural rights.