Why Human Rights Legislation is Fundamental to System Reform

Interviewer: Jonathan Harms Interviewees: Giancarlo de Vera, Simon Katterl Recorded on the final day of TheMHS 2026 Conference, Jonathan Harms (Mental Health Carers NSW) is joined by Giancarlo de Vera (BEING – NSW Mental Health Consumers) and Simon Katterl (RISE - Queensland’s Mental Health Lived Experience Peak) to discuss putting lived experience and human rights at the centre of mental health reform. They discuss how Australia’s federal system complicates human rights protection by having the Commonwealth sign international treaties while delegating the delivery of the treaty obligations to States and Territories. They also discuss Australia’s interpretive declaration on Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (equality before the law and legal capacity), its impact on coercive treatment, and substitute decision-making. Simon explains how Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019 came about and the three duties it places on Parliament, the courts and public entities. He gives his frank assessment that its effect on mental health has so far been marginal, and why the first 12 to 18 months after a new Act matter most in terms of creating actions to give weight and enforceability to the Act. The panel then turns to NSW, where a parliamentary inquiry is due to report on the need for a Human Rights Act. They discuss what a NSW Act should include, whether cost is a barrier, and how human rights can build trust and accountability in public systems.