“My secondment was an amazing opportunity to see human rights, law reform and policy work in action. Throughout the course of my secondment, I developed resources for the general public explaining the need for reform to the Disability Discrimination Act, as well as other pieces of work on key human rights issues experienced by people with disability in Australia.

My secondment pushed me to continually think strategically about the audience and purpose of the work I was doing, whether it be the general public, government stakeholders or the United Nations. I would without a doubt encourage other lawyers who are passionate about human rights to take up the opportunity to participate in a pro bono secondment.”

“I had an amazing experience during my part-time secondment at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Working under the supervision and guidance of Jacquie Au (Director of the Age Discrimination team) and Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald AM, I was tasked with preparing a research memorandum on aged person abuse in Australia.

During my time there, I considered Australia’s legislative and policy response to aged person abuse and compared it to international case studies to understand how our responses can be improved to better protect the rights and safety of older persons in Australia.

Not only was this work interesting, elder abuse is also a vastly hidden issue amongst Australians. It felt incredibly fulfilling to be able to work alongside the team at the AHRC and advocate for a human-rights based approach to tackling this growing, global issue. Through my work I was also provided an opportunity to co-author an article with Commissioner Fitzgerald on this topic.

I highly recommend undertaking a secondment at the Commission. They are wonderful to work with and you will feel supported every step of the way!”