2020-02-11 Services and Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   11 FEBRUARY 2020




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SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                               11 FEBRUARY 2020

           COUNCIL POLICY — HUMAN RIGHTS
            Importantly, the Act cannot apply and protect an individual’s human rights on a general level. In
           other words, the Act protects 23 specific human rights as outlined above rather than offering broad
            protection.
            One of the key requirements of the Act is to ensure actions and decisions are compatible with human
            rights. Therefore, Council need to:
               e   act and make decisions compatibly with human rights;
               e   develop policy and legislation, including local laws, compatibly with human rights; and,
               e   interpret legislation compatibly with human rights.
            Section 8 of the Act defines the term ‘compatible with human rights’ and states that an act or
           decision will be compatible with human rights if:

               e   it does not limit a human right, or
               e   it limits a human right only to the extent that is reasonable and demonstrably justifiable, in
                   accordance with section 13 of the Act.

           This means that every act, policy or decision by a public entity must be assessed for compatibility
           with these rights.
            Council has adopted the following approach’ illustrated below to assess the compatibility of our
           decisions or policies with legislative requirements.

               Does the policy or decision limit a      No}              ST              —
                               ,                                             policy or decision is
                        wal ul    Se                                     likely to be compatible
                                                                           with human rights
                           bas)

                 By limiting the right, is Council      Ne}
                achieving a legitimate objective?

                                                                         The policy or decision is
                           YES                                               unlikely to be
                                                                            compatible with
                                                                             human rights

                Is the limitation reasonable and        Ne}
                         justifiable?

                                                        YES

           ° Based on best practice from the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

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