News
Children's Rights
Rights of children in schools: a human rights perspective on behaviour
Read a speech by the Children's Commissioner that highlights the importance of including the views of students when defining the rights of children.
Children's Rights
The 53rd UN Youth Australia national Conference – Opening Ceremony
1. Introduction and Acknowledgements Good morning everyone and thank you to Claire for the introduction. Before I begin I too would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we gather on today; the Ngunnawal people and pay respects to elders past and present. I would also like to thank...
Children's Rights
Marist Youth Care
While I believe most Australians wish for children in this country an equal chance at life - an opportunity to not just survive but to thrive - and to be free from violence, abuse and neglect, it is, perhaps, less understood or acknowledged that this opportunity is also the right of every Australian child.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
96th NSW Teachers Federation Annual Conference
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. Some of you may recall that I addressed your conference 2 years ago and 2 years before that I spoke at your Council meeting. Obviously, this shows the enormous respect and admiration that I have for all of you as educators. But I think it also shows just how crucial I think that teachers are to progressing our human rights and social justice agenda.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
This budget could devastate Indigenous Australians
From cuts to youth welfare to the new Medicare co-payment, the budget will have a profound impact on Indigenous Australians. In an opinion piece published in The Drum, Mick Gooda asks: will the Federal Government speak to Aboriginal leaders before proceeding? I have spoken with many Aboriginal and...
Rights and Freedoms
Opening minds to ‘forgotten freedoms’
Opinion by Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson. First published in The Australian on 17 May 2014. Reform is not the end of debating free speech in Australia, it is the beginning The “forgotten freedoms” provide the foundations of our liberal democracy, and we have to reconnect with them. There are...
Rights and Freedoms
The freedom wars and the future of human rights in Australia
Address to the National Press Club, Canberra
Rights and Freedoms
Queensland Law Society Mandatory Sentencing Policy Paper Launch
Acknowledgements Thank you for your kind introduction. I would like to begin by acknowledging the Turrbal People, the traditional owners of the lands on which we are meeting today. I would also like to acknowledge: The Honourable Justice, Margaret McMurdo AC Queensland Law Society President, Ian...
Children's Rights
Juvenile Justice? Ensuring the Opportunity to Thrive
I thought I might begin today by sharing with you the words of a few of the young people I heard from during my national listening tour last year.
Children's Rights
Emerging priorities in my role as National Children’s Commissioner
I am honoured to be invited to participate in the Grand Rounds at the Royal Children’s Hospital. What a Grand title indeed, and it makes me feel a little as though I should be appropriately attired in a white coat with stethoscope.
Disability Rights
Send Rosie Anne home
For most of us gaol is a theoretical concept. It's somewhere you go if you commit a serious crime. And that's fair enough. Neither of us have committed a crime, but in various roles during our lives we have visited places of detention. But for short times, and knowing we can always walk out. They are...
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
We can't 'outsource' our moral obligations to these people
Events on Manus Island have graphically and tragically brought to the attention of the Australian public the inappropriateness of the current arrangements for the regional processing of asylum seekers. I have been troubled by the loss of life and the injury that has occurred on Manus Island over this...
Rights and Freedoms
Why I’ll take the approach of a classical liberal to human rights
As Human Rights Commissioner I want to promote a culture of rights and responsibilities so that every Australian understands their rights and confidently stands up for them against government encroachment. Because human rights are a political construct, there are numerous ways that they can be...
Rights and Freedoms
Freedoms versus anti-discrimination laws? A false debate
Responsibility, anti-discrimination laws, human rights and freedoms - these words have been at the center of an ideological debate about how to protect fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom from detention without trial. But if we are serious about...
Media centre
Visit our media centre for up to date contact details for all media enquiries.