Hamish McLachlan is a human rights lawyer who has previously worked at Victorian Legal Aid, advising and representing clients on a range of human rights issues including anti-discrimination law, mental health, disability law, tenants and social security, refugee and migration law, and more. With Lucy Geddes, he has co-written 50 Human Rights Cases that Changed Australia (Federation Press).

He joins the Breakfasters to discuss the book, which summarises Australia’s 50 most significant and influential human rights cases. They include landmark human rights cases from all Australian states and territories ranging from freedom of expression and First Nations land rights cases of the 1990s, to lesser-known earlier cases on civil liberties and criminal procedure, and more recent advances in LGBTIQA+ rights, environmental rights, and the rights of people with disabilities. Each case summary explains, in plain language, the facts, the issues and the outcome of the case. Each summary also contains key quotes from the judgment, commentary situating the case in its social and political context, and critical analysis of the case’s impact.