News
Rights and Freedoms
Free speech is best medicine for the bigotry disease
THE proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act provide the basis for correcting the legal limits of free speech, promoting pluralism, opposing reprehensible racism and highlighting the importance of responsibility. Arguably the most important change is assessing an 18C violation based on...
Children's Rights
Vulnerable children at the boundary of the criminal justice system
Keynote address at the Jesuit Social Services National Justice Symposium Pushing the boundaries: rethinking the limits of children’s involvement in the criminal justice system. CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY 1. Acknowledgments Thank you, Father Frank Brenan, for your kind introduction. I also thank the...
Sex Discrimination
The face of gender-based discrimination in Australian workplaces
UN Women 2013 International Women’s Day Panel: Implicit stereotypes, explicit solutions: overcoming gender-based discrimination in the workplace Conference Room 2, North Lawn Building, UN 1.15 – 2.30pm, Friday 8 March ** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY** The different faces of gender discrimination in...
Human Rights Day Oration - delivered by the Honourable James Spigelman AC QC
The Human Rights Day Oration was delivered by James Spigelman, Chairman of the ABC and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW from 1998 until 2011. His keynote speech tackled the topical issue of ‘Where do we draw the line between hate speech and free speech?’
Age Discrimination
The Rights of Older People and Age Discrimination in Australia (2012)
It may surprise you to hear me start by saying that in many ways the research that comes from gerontology is at the forefront of age law reform. Gerontologists give us the evidence and information to advocate for age friendly laws and policies. Your work assists us to understand that while most of us develop along a similar trajectory in the early years of life, our ageing at the latter stages of life is very different, and our laws and policies should respect those differences.
Disability Rights
Access iQ Launch, Media Access Australia (2012)
Access iQ Launch, Media Access Australia Thursday, 19 July 2012 Graeme Innes AM Disability Discrimination Commissioner Australian Human Rights Commission Good morning, I'm Graeme Innes and I tweet. In fact I probably tweet five to six times a day. I get my breaking news on Twitter. I get my cricket...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Launch of the 2011 Social Justice and Native Title Reports (2011)
It is with respect and gratitude that I acknowledge that we sit today on the lands of the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation. Thank you to Michael West for your generous welcome to country on behalf of the Gadigal people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
The Power of Identity: Naming Oneself, Reclaiming Community
Thank you Peter for your kind words of introduction and thank you Krystelle (Jordan) for your welcome to country. Krystelle, can I begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the your people, the traditional owners of this place upon which we sit and talk here tonight. I honour your Elders that have come before us, those Elders who are here tonight and I await in optimistic anticipation of those Elders, like you, who are yet to emerge. My people are the Gangulu from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland.
Commission – General
The empowered citizen: the importance of education and equality for a modern democracy (2011)
I would like to begin this evening by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Awabakal People. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Age Discrimination
Reflections on age discrimination: The price we pay for growing older
But first let me acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I pay my deepest respects to their elders both past and present.
Age Discrimination
Building a better cultural inheritance for an ageing Australia
Hon Dr Kay Patterson AO Age Discrimination Commissioner Keynote Address to National Press Club of Australia, Canberra Wednesday, 28 June, 2023 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Welcome Thank you Andrew Tillett (National Press Club Vice President) for your kind introduction. I am sometimes introduced...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Indigenous Rights and the debate over a Charter of Rights in Australia
My thanks to the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, in particular to Phil Lynch, for inviting me to address this important gathering of human rights advocates and supporters about what I consider vital for the implementation and promotion of human rights in Australia.
Disability Rights
Innes: ‘Signing up'
Graeme Innes AM, Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner Responsible for Disability Discrimination Deafness Forum Conference, Canberra, 24 May 2008.
Commission – General
Human Rights Day Address
I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay respect to their elders.
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