Innovate Rights Conference: New Thinking on Business and Human Rights

The Australian Human Rights Institute hosted their first Innovative Huamn Rights Conference which commenced on 14 May 2019 in Sydney. Former Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, was a special guest speaker.

This three-day event focused on the risks and opportunities for business in engaging with human rights issues and what businesses can do in practice to respect the rights of workers, customers and communities.

Hausfeld’s Ingrid Gubbay, who heads our Human Rights practice, joined the panel to discuss ‘Environmental Justice: Community responses in the face of corporate power’ in the afternoon of 15 May. Businesses in many industries contribute to environmental degradation which impacts local communities. What recourse exists for communities that wish to challenge business practices? How can they better protect themselves? How can companies be held to account and ultimately, change their practices?