“In relation to Indigenous rights, a failure to use the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has meant those standards are not met. The discriminatory laws introduced as part of the Northern Territory Intervention are a recent example of how punitive and discriminatory measures are still exercised against Indigenous people.”

Fellow keynote speaker for the ALHR and NJP Dinner, native title barrister Tony McAvoy SC – who was the first Australian to be appointed Senior Counsel – agreed that Australia’s treatment of the aforementioned Declaration amounted to a “glaring and fundamental failure” by the nation.

“There has not even been an audit of existing domestic legislation to determine whether Australian laws are consistent with the Declaration, nor is there any mechanism in place to ensure the consistency of new laws with the Declaration,” he said.

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“This is a substantial systemic failure to afford respect to First Nations and First Nations people.”

When asked about self-determination by Indigenous Australians, Ms Behrendt said true self-determination will require a transfer of power back to Indigenous people.

“There is a reluctance to relinquish that power and there is a lack of trust that Indigenous people know what is best for them – an assumption that is embedded in racism,” she argued.

“Evidence continues to show that the more Indigenous people lead the policy development, program design and service delivery, the better the socioeconomic results. Self-determination is not just a right, it’s good policy.”

Mr McAvoy said he doesn’t believe most Australians fear an Indigenous parliamentary voice, as proposed by the Uluru Statement from the Heart, but he does feel that many are fearful of the truth about dispossession and genocide.

“There are many Australians who fear that their affluence and status will be interrupted or affected by the recognition of our ongoing sovereignty and our rights to a share of the power. It is natural to fear change,” he mused.

“There is also a smaller number of people who are actively engaged undermining the defeating our claims for justice and equality. What we are lacking is the leadership to guide the country from its current persona as colonial outpost holding steadfast to its ‘not guilty’ plea, when the evidence tells a very different story, to a modern nation that has come to terms with its deceit and is on the path to making some amends.”

What is needed, Ms Behrendt said, is a stronger human rights framework.

“We need stronger protections against discrimination and stronger protections of due process before the law and equality before the law,” she said.

“Policy and legislation needs to be developed in close collaboration with Indigenous people – a representative body or national voice has to have a meaningful place and role to play. It’s time to develop a national treaty framework that allows for regional and local treaty making.”

Elsewhere, individual lawyers can be a voice for human rights and a vocal critic when human rights are violated, she added.

Mr McAvoy supported this: “[Lawyers] should take the time to read the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They should be prepared to engage in discourse and complain loudly that the High Court is unnecessarily shackled to the terms of legislative provisions when the rest of the world has moved on.”

ALHR president Kerry Weste said that the legal community is one of the “best-placed sectors” to champion human rights.

“We have a special responsibility to defend the rule of law. When individual lawyers step up to work collectively this is the way in which we can make a difference,” she said.

“The more voices, the louder the noise and chance of the message being heard. These voices are desperately needed in Australia, which is the only Western democracy in which citizens live bereft of a federal Human Rights Act.”

NJP CEO George Newhouse reflected that political discourse has taken a “turn for the worse” over the past 20 years, with increasing shifts towards extremism, and independent institutions which act as checks on abuses of power have been “eroded”, while human rights have been “diminished”.

“These days, there are only a few institutions that are able to reign in the excesses of our governments and their officials. They include the courts and our common law tradition,” he said.

“Given that Australia doesn’t have a Bill of Rights and as there is insufficient funding for the Aboriginal and broader community legal sector, it is incumbent on individual lawyers to step up wherever we find injustice, as part of our commitment to the rule of law.”