Improving Human Rights Analysis in the Legislative and Policy Processes (Australia‪)‬

[This article proposes and evaluates two pre-legislative mechanisms designed to improve the protection of human rights in Australia: first, a requirement that executive agencies prepare human rights impact statements in relation to all significant policy proposals, and, second, that an independent executive agency review the quality of these statements. These mechanisms aim to formalise and integrate human rights analysis with the process of developing policy options and to provide independent scrutiny of that analysis. They are a logical extension of the commitment by Australian governments to evidence-based policy-making. They do not disrupt existing institutional responsibilities and competences. They are designed to promote a culture of human rights in the executive branch of government, and they have the potential to further the fundamental democratic objective of assisting Australian legislatures to make their own assessment of the human rights impact of legislative proposals.] pre CONTENTS I Introduction II Human Rights in the Legislative and Policy Processes A The Legislative Process B The Policy Process III Regulatory Impact Statements and the Policy Process