Disability Rights
I recently returned from attending a United Nations meeting, where work is progressing on the development of an International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
Disability Rights
You might have noticed that somehow governments never seem to want the same long term commitment from Human Rights Commissioners. In fact, they often seem quite happy to see us arrive at the end of a term of office ... .
Disability Rights
I'm sure that I'm not the only person with a disability who has experienced the lonely path of advocacy. As we find it necessary to advocate for our right to be able to read the same information as the rest of society, or to enter a building through the same door, or take a guide dog to the same restaurant, we can also find ourselves agreeing with the next line of the song, "two can be as bad as one".
Disability Rights
I am pleased to have this opportunity to personally congratulate the National Australia Bank and all your staff on the work you have been doing to ensure people with disabilities have equal access to your services and facilities.
Disability Rights
Today is International Day of People with Disabilities. It is a day for acknowledging those among us whose daily lives include the realities of a disability.
Commission – General
I also thank Professor Barry Brook for his survey of the latest scientific assessments and forecasts on the impact of climate change on our planet. They are indeed alarming. The fact of climate change, and the rate of change, has become all too clear, even if there are still sceptics that wish to debate the causes. Our title reference to “Catastrophic Impacts” seems fully justified.
Rights and Freedoms
Good morning. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet – the Gadigal people of the Eora nation – and their elders both past and present.
Rights and Freedoms
Firstly I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand and by so doing remind ourselves that Australia's cultural traditions stretch back many thousands of years. The acknowledgement also expresses our aspiration for a just and inclusive Australia for all.
Rights and Freedoms
Despite its rather grand title, this presentation will be a relatively modest attempt to set out the key challenges for human rights in Australia as I see them at the outset of my term as Human Rights Commissioner.
Commission – General
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Kaurna peoples on whose land we meet this evening. I also thank Katrina Power for her warm welcome to country.
Commission – General
I would like to begin by thanking the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) for inviting me to address you today, and to thank you for your attendance.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of Cairns, the land where we meet today, and to pay my respects to their elders. I would also like to thank the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and Professor Ernest Hunter for organising this event and inviting me to open this very important conference.
Disability Rights
I want to tell you two stories about Greg. They cover different phases of his life, but illustrate the problems that face us as people with print disabilities.
Disability Rights
I congratulate EOPHEA for organising this discussion. Although, of course, your focus is primarily on employment in the university environment, the conference program is clearly designed to address equal opportunity issues of much more general significance. I have approached my own paper in the same spirit: I hope it will be particularly relevant in your own context as equity practitioners in higher education, but I have taken the opportunity to raise issues of wider relevance.
Disability Rights
I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, in whose language Canberra means meeting place as you probably know.
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