What’s the use of a Human Rights Act? Experience from New Zealand and the ACT

Two leading human rights advocates will explore the challenges and opportunities in litigating human rights cases in New Zealand and the Australian Capital Territory and answer the question – What difference can a human rights act make in court proceedings and opinion work familiar to NSW barristers?

Andrew Butler KC practises from Thorndon Chambers in Wellington, New Zealand. Andrew has expertise in human rights and has published widely in this area, including as co-author of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act: A Commentary (Wellington, LexisNexis, 2015) 2nd ed. He is also the editor of the Human Rights Reports of New Zealand (HRNZ) published by Thomson Reuters, and the New Zealand correspondent for Butterworths Human Rights Cases.  Andrew appears regularly in the NZ Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and was recently admitted in the ACT. Highlights include leading cases on judicial recognition of the declaration of inconsistency; the three-strikes sentencing law; conflicts of law and discrimination law; and aid-in-dying

Peter Tierney of Frederick Jordan Chambers has appeared in a number of cases in the ACT involving the Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT) including: Monaghan v Australian Capital Territory (No 2) [2016] ACTSC 352, Lewis v The Australian Capital Territory [2018] ACTSC 19, Eastman v The Australian Capital Territory [2019] ACTSC 280, Deng v Australian Capital Territory (No 3) [2022] ACTSC 262 and Featherstone v Australian Capital Territory [2022] ACTSC 250. He has also appeared in the NZ Court of Appeal in LFDB v SM [2016] NZCA 295 a NZ Bill of Rights Act case.