Integrity Institutions and Human Rights

People at a table talking

This project considers how Australia’s administrative law mechanisms can uphold human rights.

Currently, our focus is on Australia’s new approach to monitoring detention whereby integrity institutions (such as the Ombudsman) will be engaging more regularly with human rights standards.

Project outputs

  • Books
    • Laura Grenfell and Julie Debeljak (eds), Law Making and Human Rights: Executive and Parliamentary Scrutiny Across Australian Jurisdictions (Lawbook Co, 2020)

  • Peer reviewed journal articles
    • Laura Grenfell and Anna Olijnyk, ‘A Breath of Fresh Air: Rights Oversight by the Ombudsman during the Pandemic’ (2024) 47 Melbourne University Law Review (forthcoming)
    • Anita Mackay, Laura Grenfell, and Julie Debeljak, ‘A New Aged Care Act for Australia? Examining the Royal Commission’s Proposal for Human Rights Inclusive Legislation’ (2023) 46(3) University of New South Wales Law Journal (forthcoming) 
    • Laura Grenfell and Anita Mackay, ‘A Human Right to Daily Access to Fresh Air Beyond Prisons in Australia?’ (2023) 29 Australian Journal of Human Rights (forthcoming) 
    • Laura Grenfell and Steven Caruana, ‘Are we OPCAT ready? So Far, Bare Bones’ (2022) 47(1) Alternative Law Journal 54
    • Laura Grenfell, Anita Mackay and Julie Debeljak, ‘Human Rights Accountability for Systems of Ill Treatment in Residential Aged Care’ (2021) 47(3) Monash University Law Review 57 
    • Laura Grenfell, ‘Aged Care, Detention and OPCAT’ (2019) 25 Australian Journal of Human Rights 248

  • Academic talks, presentations and panels
    • Laura Grenfell, ‘Ombudsmen and Coroners as independent institutions protecting the human rights of vulnerable people’, National Conference of Australian Institute of Administrative Law, Adelaide (alongside Associate Professor Julie Debeljak and Dr Anita Mackay) 28 July 2023
    • Laura Grenfell ‘Human Rights and Preventable Deaths: Strengthening monitoring and oversight bodies’ ICON-S Conference 2023 – Islands and Ocean: Public Law in a Plural World, Wellington, New Zealand (copanellists with Associate Prof Julie Debeljak and Dr Anita Mackay (Discussants Prof Melissa Castan and Dr Anna Olijnyk)) 4 July 2023
    • Anna Olijnyk and Laura Grenfell, ‘Australian Ombudsman offices during the Pandemic: Calm Islands in a Stormy Sea of Accountability? ICON-S Conference 2023 – Islands and Ocean: Public Law in a Plural World, Wellington, New Zealand, 3 July 2023
    • Laura Grenfell, ‘Residential Aged Care and OPCAT’, International Conference for Carceral Geography, University of Melbourne, 14 December 2022 (Panel with Deborah Glass Victorian Ombudsman, Prof Bronwyn Naylor (RMIT), and Steven Caruana, head of OPCAT Australia Network)
    • Laura Grenfell and Julie Debeljak, ‘Human Rights monitoring in Residential Aged Care in the context of COVID-19; (Invited Presentation), Asia Pacific Coroners Society Conference, Gold Coast, 10 November 2022 
    • Laura Grenfell, ‘Protecting the Vulnerable during COVID: Australia and Slovenia’, Slovenian Australian Academic Association 5th Annual Conference, UniSA, Invited Keynote Speaker, 19 November 2021
    • Laura Grenfell, ‘OPCAT and Aged Care’, Summit on People living with Dementia, Aged Care and Human Rights, Sydney, UTS Law (Invited Speaker) 22 November 2019