Abstract
Climate Change
The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) assists clients to use the law to protect the environment, hold decision-makers accountable and secure a safe and sustainable future for all. Strategic litigation, law reform and expert legal and scientific support help communities to ensure the voices most affected by climate change have access to justice.
EDO celebrated 2026 International Women’s Day by acknowledging the role of women in progressing climate action, safeguarding nature and pointing out that around the world, women and girls are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. With women making up 80 per cent of the population displaced by climate change and extreme weather, existing gender inequalities amplify the risks women face. EDO recognised that women are at the forefront of climate solutions – driving policy, leading community responses and shaping the legal and scientific strategies that protect our planet – and highlighted women’s resilience and leadership with women driving clean energy transitions, being at the forefront of climate science and pushing for stronger environmental safeguards.
Senate Inquiry into Racism Against First Peoples
In March 2026, the Australian government announced a Senate Inquiry into racism against First Peoples which has been welcomed, among others, by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss and Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman.
Katie Kiss said, ‘this Inquiry … can help map how the long history of racism against First Peoples has evolved into the more organised, radicalised and viral forms of abuse and hate we see on digital platforms today. Government already knows what needs to change; this Inquiry must turn that knowledge into concrete action, with timelines and accountability.’
Giridharan Sivaraman noted that, ‘[r]acism against First Peoples is entrenched across the systems that shape daily life. We cannot keep treating it as a series of isolated incidents.’ (Australian Human Rights Commission, Media Release, 5 March 2026.)
Violence
In Australia, family violence protection orders aim to stop a respondent (usually a current or previous male intimate partner) using family violence against the victim-survivor in the future. Heather Douglas and Allanah Colley argue that, while the orders are useful, they need better enforcement. (Heather Douglas and Allanah Colley, ‘Family violence protection orders can be a lifeline, but the system needs reforming’, The Conversation, 23 March 2026.)
Douglas and Colley argue the disconnect between state and federal laws often requires victim-survivors to navigate two separate court systems to seek protection and resolve parenting or property disputes. Despite these challenges, protection orders have been associated with reduced domestic violence. In 2017 laws were changed so a protection order made in one state or territory can be enforced by police in another.
However, more work is needed through better enforcement of breaches of orders, and taking seriously allegations of family violence (including non-physical abuse). In 40 per cent of cases where a woman was killed by a current or former partner, she had a protection order.
Boys Will be Boys?
In their recent national survey of 2300 adult and 1100 adolescent Australians, Sara Meger and Kate Reynolds examined misogynistic attitudes and support for violent extremism. (Sara Meger and Kate Reynolds, ‘40% of teenage boys believe women lie about domestic and sexual violence: new research’, The Conversation, 6 March 2026.) They asked whether it is legitimate to use violence to resist feminism and found that over 17 per cent agreed feminism should be resisted with violence. The study included a representative sample of 13- to 17-year-olds across Australia where 25–30 per cent of boys agreed with various forms of violent extremism. More than a third agreed with misogynistic attitudes. And roughly 40 per cent of boys aged 13 to 17 agreed that women lie about domestic and sexual violence.
Meger and Reynolds noted growing sentiments that ‘feminism has gone too far’ and men are now discriminated against have risen steadily since 2021, amplified through the ‘manosphere’ – a network of influencers and communities that frame gender equality as a threat.