Fred Chaney has been appointed to chair a government committee researching a proposed human rights act for WA. The committee, which will operate under the department of the attorney-general, will consult with the community on the operation and scope of a parliamentary act to protect human rights. Mr Chaney was WA president of the National Native Title Tribunal, until last month, and is currently a board member of the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund and a director of Reconciliation Australia Ltd, which he co-chaired from 2000 to 2005. The committee’s other members are: WA Council of Social Service executive director, Lisa Baker; former Anglican Archbishop of Perth and Anglican Primate of Australia, Dr Peter Carnley; and associate professor Colleen Hayward, manager of the Kulunga Research Network with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.