Brian Burdekin, AO

Brian Burdekin, AO

Professor Brian Burdekin AO is one of Australia’s most distinguished human rights advocates, with a career spanning more than five decades as a barrister, diplomat, senior political adviser, and academic. He served as Australia’s inaugural Federal Human Rights Commissioner from 1986 to 1994, a role in which he conducted landmark national inquiries into the systemic abuse of the country’s most vulnerable people.

Professor Burdekin’s three-year National Inquiry into Human Rights and Mental Illness (1990–1993) exposed widespread human rights violations against people with mental health conditions in every state and territory, and directly led to Australia adopting its first National Mental Health Policy. His inquiry was ground breaking in being the first to centre the people with lived experience, an approach now enshrined in government policy and publicly funded research. The resulting report, widely known as the “Burdekin Report”, remains a foundational document in Australian mental health reform.

His influence extended well beyond Australia. As an adviser to the first three United Nations High Commissioners on Human Rights, Professor Burdekin was instrumental in ensuring people with psychiatric disabilities were included in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a treaty Australia ratified in 2008 that helped shape the National Disability Insurance Scheme. He also assisted in establishing independent national human rights commissions in nearly 70 countries across Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

In 1995, Professor Burdekin was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to human rights in Australia and internationally. In 2025, he was awarded the prestigious Australian Mental Health Prize at UNSW Sydney in recognition of his decades of advocacy. He has also served as a Professorial Visiting Fellow at the UNSW Law Faculty.

MIFA is proud to welcome Professor Burdekin as Co Patron, bringing unparalleled expertise in mental health human rights and an enduring commitment to the dignity and wellbeing of people living with mental health challenges.