One of the most important parts of being human is feeling empathy and practising respect. We deny ourselves that if we deny the rights of others

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When I began my term as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission seven years ago, the marriage equality plebiscite was engulfing our nation, in much the same way as the recent voice referendum did.

Although the outcomes were different, the focus on human rights which framed the respective debates serves to remind us that the application and experience of human rights are elemental to the way we function as a society.

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This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.