The Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA), a local network of the UN
Global Compact [UNGC] has held the second meeting of its Human Rights Working Group for Business. The
event was hosted in Sydney by Westpac, a founding member of the GCNA, with support from the Australian
Human Rights Commission, the Attorney General’s Department, The Treasury and leading businesses including
Pacific Hydro, ANZ, Xstrata and Allens Arthur Robinson. The Working Group was established to provide a forum
for shared learning amongst Australian businesses on human rights challenges and opportunities. The second
meeting was attended by over 45 participants across sectors such as banking, extractives, energy,
telecommunications and major infrastructure.
The Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) has proved itself to be an effective platform from which to
convene multi-stakeholder consultation, collaboration and learning, including in developing the business and
human rights agenda, according to Rosemary Sainty who heads the Secretariat of the Network.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland welcomed this excellent initiative:
The protection of human rights is the responsibility of all Australians, including those in the business
community. Ongoing discussions about how best to meet human rights obligations in the business sphere
are an important part of advancing respect for human rights generally.
The meeting commenced with an update from the Attorney-General’s Department on the implications for
business of the National Human Rights Action Plan, followed by a discussion on the revision of the OECD
Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises led by the Australian National Contact Point for the Guidelines based in
the Foreign Investment and Trade Policy Division, The Treasury.
The Australian Human Rights Commission outlined their program of work on business and human rights.
President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Catherine Branson QC, says working with the business
community to promote and protect human rights in Australia is a critical strategy in working towards a fairer
Australian society:
In cooperation with the GCNA, the Commission is consulting directly with business representatives to
develop appropriate resources that businesses can use to apply human rights standards and principles
to their enterprises. The collaboration between GCNA and the Commission demonstrates how
Australia's National Human Rights Institution, the United Nations local network and businesses can work
together to ensure human rights are both respected and protected in the Australian community.
An advisor to the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights also updated participants on the
recently released Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The Guiding Principles seek to provide for
the first time an authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights
impacts linked to business activity.
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In 2008 the UN Human Rights Council welcomed the UN “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework that he
proposed for managing business and human rights-related challenges and gave him another three-year
mandate to develop practical recommendations to operationalise the Framework.
Following these domestic and international briefings, participants unpacked the human rights due diligence
process for preventing and addressing human rights impacts, discussing the business case as well as the realities
facing companies operating in Australia and abroad in implementing the process on the ground. Participants
heard from presenters with experience in both international and Australian operations about the importance of
a whole of business approach to respecting human rights. A senior associate from Allens Arthur Robinson
explained the legal compliance benefits of conducting effective human rights due diligence.
Janine Hoey, General Manager Group Operations and Commercial, Pacific Hydro, and one of the session’s
presenters, elaborated on the opportunities the Working Group offers for shared learning:
At Pacific Hydro, we aspire to best practice in everything we do, and our values are applied equally to
our assets and projects in Australia, Chile and Brazil. It’s part of our DNA, not just because it’s the right
thing to do, but because it makes good business sense for us to do it. Working Groups in Australia are a
great way for us to share our practical experience and initiatives for the benefit of the broader business
community.
The GCNA plans to build the Working Group to develop an Australian business “community of practice” on
business and human rights. Matthew Tukaki, Australian Network Representative, Global Compact Network
Australia and Chief Executive Officer, The Sustain Group Pty Ltd noted the Working Group’s efforts to develop
networks between Australian business of all sizes across a diverse range of industries, as well as facilitate
productive engagement between different stakeholder groups:
“The recently established human rights working group is an example of business and key stakeholders
coming together to find solutions to some big challenges. It is also important to note that when we talk
about human rights we not only speak of what is happening internationally, it is also in the domestic
context. Whether you are a small or large business, not for profit, Government department or community
group, by having a collaborative approach to tackling human rights issues we can achieve a lot more
than working in isolation to each other. The working group is a forum where we can identify those
challenges, both internationally and domestically, and then seek to find the appropriate solutions.”