Staff Spotlight: Sarah Sacher

Sarah is a Policy Specialist at HTI, working on delivering HTI’s policy programs and projects. 

She has always had an interest in human rights, technology and surveillance.  She has also focused on children’s experiences with the criminal justice system, as well as outlining a possible human rights act for our Australian context. With these interests, you could say that HTI is her perfect fit. 

Sarah grew up in Melbourne and went to Monash University where she studied Law and Arts. She majored in English and Creative Writing, and while she initially thought she may go down the path of becoming a writer – with a particular interest in Kafka - she became interested in the human rights element of law and decided to follow that path.

Her first job was at the peak body for lawyers, the Law Council of Australia, where she worked on human rights issues, including children’s rights in the criminal justice system. “I actually worked on the legal profession's policy position on raising the age of criminal responsibility, which I'm still incredibly passionate about,” she said.

After a few years Sarah was accepted to do a Master’s in Human Rights Law at the London School of Economics. During her studies she volunteered at London-based anti-surveillance organisation, Big Brother Watch, where she researched and ultimately did her thesis on predictive analytics used in child protection systems, further developing her interest and advocacy in children’s contact with the criminal justice system and the role technology plays in this.

One thing I noticed was that there are blurred lines between the use of child protection tools aimed at identifying children at risk of child abuse, and policing tools that identify those at risk of committing crime. Both rely on the same kinds of risk indicators and shared data, and essentially target the same cohort of kids. - Sarah Sacher, HTI Policy Specialist

“So there is a risk of vulnerable children being surveilled in ways that can lead to criminalisation – even if it’s for a ‘protective’ purpose.”

Once she finished her Master’s, Sarah was unlucky enough to be one of the people caught up trying to get back to Australia during covid, with her flight rescheduled 17 times. When she eventually got home, she moved to Sydney for a job as Adviser to the President of the Human Rights Commission, where she turned her focus to drafting a paper to outline a model for a Human Rights Act for Australia. 

“It's quite challenging to find the right approaches that fit with Australia's legal system and political system. So I found that really interesting. 

“This is really missing in Australia…. Every other democratic Western country has a human rights act or a constitutional bill of rights and we don't.” The model was recently endorsed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights’ Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework report.

Sarah then worked at Economic Justice Australia, the peak body for community legal centres providing advice on social security issues which was active in uncovering Robodebt. Here she worked on a project looking at issues with automation in Australia’s social security system, including its overreliance and overuse, where HTI Director Ed Santow had an advisory role.

Sarah joined HTI in November 2023, jumping at the chance to exercise her skills in human rights and technology. “It's obviously a great organisation, great culture.

I'm a human rights person first, but I'm really, really interested in the implications of technology for human rights in particular and always have been. And there isn't really a space to have that focus, I think, anywhere else in Australia other than at HTI. - Sarah Sacher, HTI Policy Specialist

Sarah is also a “big animal person” and used to foster care for pets before adopting her cat, Bean. “She arrived at the shelter with one eye, so we've heard conflicting things… she was very initially very traumatized and quiet, and now she's quite a happy cat,” she said of her one-eyed friend.

“I know all the pets in my neighbourhood. I'm on first name basis with everybody.”