AHRC targets robodebt, Covid policies and indefinite detention in push for federal human rights act

Australian Human Rights Commission president, Rosalind Croucher, at a Senate estimates hearing. Croucher has called for a federal human rights act. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Australian Human Rights Commission has taken aim at the robodebt program, indefinite detention and Covid policies in a new report setting out a model for a federal Human Rights Act.

According to the AHRC, a Human Rights Act could have provided safeguards to help prevent robodebt, and the “abandonment” and “potential endangerment” of Australians overseas during the pandemic.