Right to a healthy environment to be enshrined in the ACT's human rights act

A right to a healthy environment will be enshrined in the ACT's human rights laws with a bill to be introduced in the Legislative Assembly.

The bill will provide a statutory recognition for the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Under the changes, environmental and climate considerations must feature in public authority functions and decision-making.

People will also be able to make a complaint to the human rights commission if the right to a healthy environment has been breached.

Human Rights Minister Tara Cheyne will introduce the bill to the Assembly on Thursday morning.

She said the legislation reflected a growing international consensus around the role and importance of environmental protections.

"The ACT will be the first Australian jurisdiction to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in our human rights framework, demonstrating our continued leadership as a human rights jurisdiction," Ms Cheyne said.

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"Recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment will provide the catalyst for more ambitious, coherent and coordinated action by the ACT government to protect the environment for our current and future generations."

The right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment was recognised as a standalone human right by the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2021.

Labor and the Greens committed to enshrining a right to a healthy environment in their power-sharing agreement.

Greens' backbencher Jo Clay also highlighted the need for the right to a healthy environment in a motion presented to the Legislative Assembly last year.

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