There is no great momentum towards a state or national human rights law in Australia, and few people other than lawyers are calling for one. A human rights law is not an obvious good, nor obviously necessary. An analysis of contemporary Australian society to establish the need for and form of a human rights law. Only then is a campaign for its adoption appropriate. Lawyers who advocate for a human rights law need to demonstrate each of professional humility, deference to other professionals, and a keen appreciation that their most effective place in a movement for social change may be to support the mobilisation of a much broader coalition of advocates and citizens.