What are legal and policy frameworks informing rights-based care?
Rights-Based Care (RBC) in Australia is informed by legal and policy frameworks that come from international human rights treaties, laws, and charters. These documents describe universal rights that all people have.
National legal and policy frameworks, including the Aged Care Act 2024, form the basis for how RBC is operationalised in Australia’s aged care system. [1]
Why does this matter for rights-based care?
International human rights treaties, laws, and charters provide the foundations for RBC, and national legislation provides a framework for its operationalisation.
International human rights treaties, laws, and charters are necessary but not sufficient on their own to realise RBC. These documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United Nations Principles for Older Persons, describe rights and principles that align with RBC. [2, 3]
While there is a statement of principles for older people, there has not been a dedicated international convention on the rights of older persons, like there has been for people with disabilities. This means that globally, there is inconsistent protection of older people’s rights. [4, 5]
Researchers who study RBC consider international human rights statements the basis for how RBC should be understood, particularly in relation to autonomy, dignity, participation, and decision-making support. [4-7] However, international human rights statements alone do not give enough guidance for how to deliver health or social care within a specific context, such as aged care in Australia. [4]
International human rights statements establish standards, but do not automatically ensure RBC in practice. There is a gap between these statements and how they are enacted into laws and implemented into care systems. RBC requires system-wide reform and leadership across policy, regulation, and organisational governance. [4-6, 8, 9]
In some areas and for some sectors, it can be difficult to understand how rights-based laws may or may not apply. For example, there may be differences in how rights are protected between sectors that an older person may encounter, such as housing and aged care. [8] In other cases, regulations may conflict with each other. Safety-oriented regulation may influence practice in ways that reduce autonomy and freedom, especially when it is clear what compliance with ’safety’ looks like, but not ‘autonomy’. [10]
Lack of guidance for providers, absence of training, organisational risk aversion, and dominance of safety and liability concerns can all limit the impact of rights-based frameworks. RBC effectiveness depends on strong implementation, clear operational guidance, culture change, and sustained training. [5, 6]
In Australia, RBC is operationalised through the Aged Care Act (2024), which protects the rights of older people seeking care. It includes a Statement of Rights, new Strengthened Quality Standards, and a Code of Conduct to provide guidance for organisations who provide services to older people. [1] The Australian government has provided resources to help organisations embed RBC into care. [11]
Want to learn more?
Read more about international human rights statements and Australian aged care legislation.
This progress report from the Office of the Inspector General of Aged Care details its views on the implementation of the Aged Care Act related to Human Rights.
This presentation by Professor Rosalind Croucher focuses on the Commission’s proposed model for a Human Rights Act in Australia and how it may support the rights of older people.
What can be done?
Translate abstract rights into service-level policies and procedures
Providers:
- Develop internal policies that explicitly interpret rights based standards for common care scenarios.
- Make rights visible in operational documents including care planning templates, consent procedures, and incident review tools.
The evidence:
- Rights exist in laws and standards, but providers lack guidance on how to apply them. [5]
- Stakeholders emphasised the importance of cultural and organisational change to move from compliance to genuine rights-based practice. [9]
Provide ongoing education in human rights and RBC
Providers:
- Incorporate human rights and RBC principles into induction, mandatory training, and supervision conversations.
- Move beyond one off training to ongoing reflective learning.
- Provide training that builds staff capability in ethics, communication, consent, cultural competence, and human rights literacy.
The evidence:
- Staff education was linked to residents’ rights being respected in practice. [7]
- Training resources, scenario-based learning, and reflective practice sessions support implementation of RBC. [9]
Provide practical guidance to reduce risk-averse decision-making
Providers:
- Develop decision support tools such as flowcharts or case examples that show how to balance rights and risk.
- Support staff to document rights-based reasoning, not just risk avoidance, in care records.
The evidence:
- Ambiguity in consent and decision making expectations leads to overly cautious practice. [5]
- In the absence of guidance, providers default to safety, liability, and restriction rather than rights. [7, 10]