As an advocate for Mental Health, Youth, the Environment, Justice & Equality locally, nationally and internationally, Shane Cuthbert holds many memberships, committee and board positions with various organisations.
Shane Cuthbert is a member of the Australian Psychological Society, the College of Clinical Psychologists, the Queensland Law Society student member and Amnesty International. Shane Cuthbert also currently supports the Australian Human Rights Commision 'It stops with me' campaign, the Australian Marine Conservation Society 'Fight for our reef' campaign and recently became a supporter of the 'Charter of Rights' Australian Human Rights Charter proposed by the Human Rights Law Centre.
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Human Rights Advocacy
The Human Rights Law Centre is currently advocating for an Australian Charter of Human Rights & Freedoms and Shane Cuthbert is supporting it. Creating an Australian Charter of Human Rights & Freedoms will benefit the whole community.
It will help prevent human rights violations, provide a powerful tool for challenging injustices and foster a culture of understanding and respecting human rights. A Charter is about ensuring that the values we all share – like fairness, respect, dignity and compassion – are always at the heart of all government decisions, laws and policies. CLICK HERE for to join Shane Cuthbert in supporting the Australian Charter of Human Rights.
It will help prevent human rights violations, provide a powerful tool for challenging injustices and foster a culture of understanding and respecting human rights. A Charter is about ensuring that the values we all share – like fairness, respect, dignity and compassion – are always at the heart of all government decisions, laws and policies. CLICK HERE for to join Shane Cuthbert in supporting the Australian Charter of Human Rights.
Environmental Advocacy
As a member of the United Nations Association of Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Citizen of the Great Barrier Reef and supporter of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Shane Cuthbert regularly volunteers, supports and advocates on behalf of our environment. CAFNEC (Cairns and Far North Environment Centre) recently organised a protest to be held in Cairns, as the UNESCO delegation arrived to assess the Great Barrier Reef and its status as a World Heritage site, and the need for continued protection. As a 'Reef Leader', Shane Cuthbert supports conservation of the Great Barrier Reef, the prevention of climate change and protection of natural environments.
UNESCO uses education, science and culture to inform, inspire and engage people everywhere to foster understanding and respect for each other and our planet. For more informatiom CLICK HERE.
As a member of the United Nations Association of Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Citizen of the Great Barrier Reef and supporter of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Shane Cuthbert regularly volunteers, supports and advocates on behalf of our environment. CAFNEC (Cairns and Far North Environment Centre) recently organised a protest to be held in Cairns, as the UNESCO delegation arrived to assess the Great Barrier Reef and its status as a World Heritage site, and the need for continued protection. As a 'Reef Leader', Shane Cuthbert supports conservation of the Great Barrier Reef, the prevention of climate change and protection of natural environments.
UNESCO uses education, science and culture to inform, inspire and engage people everywhere to foster understanding and respect for each other and our planet. For more informatiom CLICK HERE.
Video Courtesy of Channel 7 News
Queensland Human Rights Advocacy
As an advocate for human rights in Queensland, Shane Cuthbert regularly advocates for changes to the laws protecting the rights of others on behalf of Amnesty International, Domestic Violence Anonymous, Shane Cuthbert's Change the World Foundation, the United Nations Association of Australia, the Australian Labor Party and other not-for-profit organisations.
Shane Cuthbert was recently encouraged to share his personal story with the Qld Human Rights Commission and their review of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) by lawyers at Legal Aid Queensland's Civil Justice Services Unit. Shane Cuthbert has been discriminated against for his appearance, his criminal history and for historic defamatory allegations that did not result in criminal charges or convictions. If these laws were reformed, they would provide Shane Cuthbert and others with better protections against discrimination in the future. CLICK HERE to view the full submission.
Domestic Violence Advocacy
It is highly encouraged that legal practitioner’s regularly engage with law reform and as a future legal practitioner, Shane Cuthbert has a professional responsibility to protect the rule of law and the integrity of the legal system.
As an advocate for mental health, justice, equality and domestic violence, Shane Cuthbert provided a submission to The Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce’ ‘Coercive Control’ Inquiry. The taskforce is currently working to provide a report to the Attorney-General, outlining how best to legislate against coercive control. CLICK HERE to view the full submission.
For more information on the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce CLICK HERE.
If you are currently in need of support, please contact one of these organisations listed below.
If you are currently in need of support, please contact one of these organisations listed below.
LawToks Project and Youth Justice Advocacy
In 2021, Shane Cuthbert was invited as a student of law, to represent the Business and Law Faculty of Central Queensland University, visiting schools and community organisations in Rockhampton, presenting the LawToks project to young people.
Two years ago, the Rockhampton community, Durambul Youth Network and Youth Justice started to conduct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community consultation meetings to create community led discussions about communtiy needs. From that, a few smaller sub-committees were formed. One such sub-committee was established to address the issue of Youth Crime. One of the elders, stated that he had concerns about the discrepancy between what young people knew or believed they knew about dealing with police and what the parents/carers knew.
Central Queensland University was approached and asked to work with community groups on the LawToks project. The LawToks project began creating short, accessible, informative videos around the rights and responsibilities of young people in Rockhampton whilst in custody, attending court or under arrest. Central Queensland University has worked collaboratively on this project since 2020. In September 2021, Dr Linda Lorenza, the head Drama Lecturer at the Central Queensland University Mackay campus, travelled to Rockhampton with the drama student team and Shane Cuthbert, to present draft videos to Rockhampton youth for assessment.
The videos and live presentations of the 'real life' scenes gave the Rockhampton young people great insight into how different actions could create different outcomes, what their rights were and how the Durumbul Youth Network as a service, could provide better support to young people. The team visited the Durumbul Youth Network drop in centre, Rockhampton High School and the Rockhampton Flexi School. The team was able to gain valuable and insightful information regarding the experiences of young people when confronted by police. The young people gave real feedback about what they wanted to see in the videos and how these videos would help them in the future.
In 2021, Shane Cuthbert was invited as a student of law, to represent the Business and Law Faculty of Central Queensland University, visiting schools and community organisations in Rockhampton, presenting the LawToks project to young people.
Two years ago, the Rockhampton community, Durambul Youth Network and Youth Justice started to conduct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community consultation meetings to create community led discussions about communtiy needs. From that, a few smaller sub-committees were formed. One such sub-committee was established to address the issue of Youth Crime. One of the elders, stated that he had concerns about the discrepancy between what young people knew or believed they knew about dealing with police and what the parents/carers knew.
Central Queensland University was approached and asked to work with community groups on the LawToks project. The LawToks project began creating short, accessible, informative videos around the rights and responsibilities of young people in Rockhampton whilst in custody, attending court or under arrest. Central Queensland University has worked collaboratively on this project since 2020. In September 2021, Dr Linda Lorenza, the head Drama Lecturer at the Central Queensland University Mackay campus, travelled to Rockhampton with the drama student team and Shane Cuthbert, to present draft videos to Rockhampton youth for assessment.
The videos and live presentations of the 'real life' scenes gave the Rockhampton young people great insight into how different actions could create different outcomes, what their rights were and how the Durumbul Youth Network as a service, could provide better support to young people. The team visited the Durumbul Youth Network drop in centre, Rockhampton High School and the Rockhampton Flexi School. The team was able to gain valuable and insightful information regarding the experiences of young people when confronted by police. The young people gave real feedback about what they wanted to see in the videos and how these videos would help them in the future.
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Cairns 24 Hour Youth Service Advocacy
The over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in the criminal justice system is at an unacceptable level in Cairns. With remand rates rising and growing community outrage with the youth crime epidemic. This program proposes to operate from 9pm until 9am week nights and 24 hours over the weekend. The program will operate within a functional program space using case management to provide much needed support and address the needs of the child and refer the individual to day time programs. The program will aim to work over the weekends and peak times that criminal activity is noted to spike (12am-2am) with outreach a key component.
This program is designed for disengaged young people who are at risk and needing a safe space throughout the night. The program aims to be a culturally capable, holistic and targeted community program, aiming to keep kids safe during the night and reduce criminal activity. The program is designed to assist and enhance the development of existing case plans with outside stakeholders whilst reducing the number of unsupervised young people out on the streets at night. The services 'aims' provide a framework for holistic and wrap around delivery of services.
It is estimated that presently, 30-40 individuals will frequently use this service and there will be anywehere up to 50 individuals present during any one particular period of time, according to the latest watchouse statistics and relevant market research.
These children are currently falling through the cracks. For some of these children, psychological and physical abuse is inflicted upon them frequently. There is a growing rate of domestic violence in these ares/suburbs where the youth are residing. We believe that children are in desperate need of a safe space and somewhere to go at night to avoid toxic households, abuse, drug misuse, alcohilism and alcohol related crime, sexual abuse and extreme violence.
Services such as police, FACS and other government organisations are unable in many cases to intervene. The cooperation rate with police over domestic violence is in particular low. Children are often fearful and remain silent and do not cooperate with police and FACS.
Because there is simply nowhere for these kids to go at night they resort to wandering the streets where they are committing crims, stealing cars and finding themselves arrested and brought before the courts. Our aim is to reduce youth homelessness and as a result, youth crime. For a full list of projects Shane Cuthbert's Change the World Foundation has or is currently supporting CLICK HERE.
The over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in the criminal justice system is at an unacceptable level in Cairns. With remand rates rising and growing community outrage with the youth crime epidemic. This program proposes to operate from 9pm until 9am week nights and 24 hours over the weekend. The program will operate within a functional program space using case management to provide much needed support and address the needs of the child and refer the individual to day time programs. The program will aim to work over the weekends and peak times that criminal activity is noted to spike (12am-2am) with outreach a key component.
This program is designed for disengaged young people who are at risk and needing a safe space throughout the night. The program aims to be a culturally capable, holistic and targeted community program, aiming to keep kids safe during the night and reduce criminal activity. The program is designed to assist and enhance the development of existing case plans with outside stakeholders whilst reducing the number of unsupervised young people out on the streets at night. The services 'aims' provide a framework for holistic and wrap around delivery of services.
It is estimated that presently, 30-40 individuals will frequently use this service and there will be anywehere up to 50 individuals present during any one particular period of time, according to the latest watchouse statistics and relevant market research.
These children are currently falling through the cracks. For some of these children, psychological and physical abuse is inflicted upon them frequently. There is a growing rate of domestic violence in these ares/suburbs where the youth are residing. We believe that children are in desperate need of a safe space and somewhere to go at night to avoid toxic households, abuse, drug misuse, alcohilism and alcohol related crime, sexual abuse and extreme violence.
Services such as police, FACS and other government organisations are unable in many cases to intervene. The cooperation rate with police over domestic violence is in particular low. Children are often fearful and remain silent and do not cooperate with police and FACS.
Because there is simply nowhere for these kids to go at night they resort to wandering the streets where they are committing crims, stealing cars and finding themselves arrested and brought before the courts. Our aim is to reduce youth homelessness and as a result, youth crime. For a full list of projects Shane Cuthbert's Change the World Foundation has or is currently supporting CLICK HERE.
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Religious Discrimination
Youth Justice and Environmental Advocacy
As a member of Amnesty International, Shane Cuthbert regularly supports many of the organisations initiatives and programs. recently Shane Cuthbert signed a petition for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to legislate an Australian Human Rights Act; A petition for state Premiers and Ministers Dominic Perrottet, Premier of New South Wales; Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier of Queensland; Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia; Peter Gutwein, Premier of Tasmania; Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria; Mark McGowan, Premier of Western Australia; Michael Gunner, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory; Andrew Barr, Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14; Emailed Senators to stop the Religious Discrimination Bill and wrote again to Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging him to step up at COP26 and commit to the following; 1. Aim for zero emissions by 2030. Almost all of the world’s advanced economies have now substantially strengthened their 2030 emissions reduction targets. Australia has not. As a first step, Australia must match updated commitments from other wealthy nations and shortly after, submit a NDC required to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C.
2. Progress on climate finance is key to success in Glasgow, but Australia has so far contributed a relatively small amount towards the shared goal of US $100BN per year. We must follow other countries in significantly increasing our contribution. Australia must also recommence contributions to the Green Climate Fund.
3. Support the priorities of our Pacific neighbours when it comes to much-needed progress from COP26 on action to address loss and damage and commit to new and additional funding.
4. Phase out fossil fuels. To keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5C alive, there is no room for new fossil fuels. A rapid transition to 100% renewable energy is within our grasp. We must join other countries in agreeing to phase out coal and gas by no later than 2030, and commit to ending all public funding for fossil fuels.
5. Ensure the importance of safeguarding human rights in Article 6 of the Paris rulebook during negotiations on carbon markets. If you would like to get involved with Amnesty International or would like to know more about the incredible work they do, CLICK HERE.
As a member of Amnesty International, Shane Cuthbert regularly supports many of the organisations initiatives and programs. recently Shane Cuthbert signed a petition for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to legislate an Australian Human Rights Act; A petition for state Premiers and Ministers Dominic Perrottet, Premier of New South Wales; Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier of Queensland; Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia; Peter Gutwein, Premier of Tasmania; Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria; Mark McGowan, Premier of Western Australia; Michael Gunner, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory; Andrew Barr, Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14; Emailed Senators to stop the Religious Discrimination Bill and wrote again to Prime Minister Scott Morrison urging him to step up at COP26 and commit to the following; 1. Aim for zero emissions by 2030. Almost all of the world’s advanced economies have now substantially strengthened their 2030 emissions reduction targets. Australia has not. As a first step, Australia must match updated commitments from other wealthy nations and shortly after, submit a NDC required to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5°C.
2. Progress on climate finance is key to success in Glasgow, but Australia has so far contributed a relatively small amount towards the shared goal of US $100BN per year. We must follow other countries in significantly increasing our contribution. Australia must also recommence contributions to the Green Climate Fund.
3. Support the priorities of our Pacific neighbours when it comes to much-needed progress from COP26 on action to address loss and damage and commit to new and additional funding.
4. Phase out fossil fuels. To keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5C alive, there is no room for new fossil fuels. A rapid transition to 100% renewable energy is within our grasp. We must join other countries in agreeing to phase out coal and gas by no later than 2030, and commit to ending all public funding for fossil fuels.
5. Ensure the importance of safeguarding human rights in Article 6 of the Paris rulebook during negotiations on carbon markets. If you would like to get involved with Amnesty International or would like to know more about the incredible work they do, CLICK HERE.
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