ACT becomes first Australian jurisdiction to enshrine right to healthy environment

Demonstrating the commitment of the ACT Government to ensure the environment is protected for Canberrans of the present and future, in an Australian first, the ACT Government has enshrined the right to a healthy environment in the ACT’s Human Rights Act.

The ACT Government has followed the lead of 160 countries around the world that are already protecting the rights of their citizens to a healthy environment by providing essential guarantees regarding access to clean air, water, and soil

The Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023 provides express statutory recognition for the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

The right to a healthy environment has been recognised to include a right to clean air, a safe climate, access to safe water and to healthy and sustainably produced food, non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play, and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems.

The ACT Parliament’s passage of legislation enshrining the right to a healthy environment is a watershed moment in human rights and environmental law in Australia, according to the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) and the Human Rights Law Centre.

EDO and the Human Rights Law Centre applaud the ACT Legislative Assembly’s vision and courage in recognising access to a healthy environment as a basic human right and a prerequisite for its citizens to enjoy happy, healthy lives.

EDO Director Nicole Sommer noted “This is a momentous day for all those advocating for a right to a healthy environment in Australian law and for ACT communities that will benefit from this historic legislation.

“We congratulate the ACT on leading the nation and urge legislators in other jurisdictions to follow the territory’s lead.

“EDO has advocated for the recognition of the right to a healthy environment in Australia for over 20 years, since a Bill of Rights was first considered for the ACT in 2002.

“A healthy environment is fundamental to everything we as humans hold dear. However, until today it has been overlooked by Australian legislators.

Human Rights Law Centre Senior Lawyer Jack McLean added “Our human rights depend on a safe and healthy environment. As the source of our food, water, and air, a healthy environment holds the key to our survival and wellbeing.

“Governments across Australia should be doing everything they can, in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to protect human rights in the face of the extraordinary threats posed by the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and rampant pollution.

“We applaud the ACT Government for enshrining a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in the Territory’s Human Rights Act.

“This is a huge win for people and communities across the ACT. The new law will help safeguard the environment for future generations by ensuring that this right is at the heart of government decision-making.

“Other governments across Australia are tragically lagging behind and should take note that the status quo has changed—access to a healthy and safe environment is a human right, and it must be protected.”

In July 2022, the Australian Government supported a landmark resolution in the UN General Assembly to formally recognise a standalone right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment at international law. To date, the ACT is the only Australian jurisdiction that has enshrined this right in domestic law. The Commonwealth Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights recently recommended that the right to a healthy environment be enshrined in federal law as part of a national Human Rights Act.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment has defined the right to a healthy environment to include the following substantive elements: clean air; a safe climate; access to safe drinking water and sanitation; healthy biodiversity and ecosystems; toxic-free environments in which to live, work and play; and healthy and sustainably produced food.

In an ACT context, the right will also ensure environmental and climate considerations feature in public authority functions and decision-making.

Due to the work that will be required by a wide variety of public authorities and directorates to fully understand and implement the right in decision-making and policies, this commencement will be up to six months after the Bill has been notified. The proposed commencement time is necessary to plan and develop guidance, operational and instructional material and to deliver training to those who will need to apply the new right when exercising their functions.

Complaints about breaches of the right to a healthy environment will be able to be made to the ACT Human Rights Commission under the new human rights complaints pathway being established by the Government.

Consideration of a right to a healthy environment was part of the Parliamentary Agreement of the 10th Legislative Assembly, with the ACT Government going further.

ACT Minister for Human Rights Tara Cheyne noted “The ACT is the first Australian jurisdiction to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in our human rights framework, demonstrating our continued leadership as a human rights jurisdiction.

“This is a significant Bill. It demonstrates the commitment of the ACT Government to ensure our environment is protected for Canberrans of the present and future. There is a growing body of national, regional and international law that recognises the close relationship between human rights and the environment.

“Climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss are serious challenges that our community will face, and with these challenges come significant impacts on human rights, including the right to life and the right to equality, as well as the wellbeing of our community. There is an increasingly urgent need for real action to prevent irreversible impacts to our environment from climate change.

“The ACT continues to be a leader in human rights both nationally and internationally, and this Bill takes an unprecedented step in human rights legislation reform in Australia.”

ACT Minister for the Environment Rebecca Vassarotti added “In 2019, the ACT Government took a bold step by declaring climate change a ‘climate emergency’. Now, five years later, we are advancing this commitment by embedding the right to a healthy environment into the Human Rights Act. This move ensures that climate action becomes a responsibility for all future governments.

“This decision is crucial for protecting the future of our planet, especially for the younger generations. My hope is that the ACT Government's leadership will set a precedent, inspiring other states, territories, and countries to follow suit.

“The decisions being made by politicians now will have a far-reaching impact on the lives of young people for decades to come. By enshrining the right to a healthy environment in our Human Rights Act, we are safeguarding the future of our nature reserves, the environment in our suburbs, and the wellbeing of future generations.

“This change honours the deep-rooted wisdom and way of life upheld by First Nations in Australia for millennia. It acknowledges that a healthy and positive relationship with the environment is fundamental to a thriving and fulfilling life.”

Image. ACT healthy waterways floating wetland