Branson to leave AHRC

Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) president Catherine Branson QC will step down midyear to spend more time with her family.

Branson’s five-year term as president started in October 2008. She took on the additional role of Human Rights Commissioner in July 2009, which had been held by the AHRC’s current Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes.

Repeated attempts to place sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination under the AHRC’s jurisdiction have been blocked by both major parties.

However, under Branson’s presidency, the AHRC made recommendations to the United Nations Periodic Review of Australia’s human rights, including that sexuality and sex and gender diversity be added to federal anti-discrimination laws, that same-sex marriage be legalised and that the recommendations of the AHRC’s Sex Files report into the documentation needs of transgender people be implemented.