“The Relevance of Human Rights in Contemporary Australia”: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2003)
1. Introduction 2. Emergence of International Human Rights 3. Impact of international human rights law on federal law 4. Moving forward on human rights protection
1. Introduction 2. Emergence of International Human Rights 3. Impact of international human rights law on federal law 4. Moving forward on human rights protection
When the CWA started in 1923 about 40% of Australians lived in rural communities. Rural Australia was made up of small but functioning communities whose members had to work hard but could make a living from the land.
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world
I would like to start today by acknowledging the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people on whose land we are on today and pay my respect to your elders both past and present. Thank you to Seith for your welcome to country. I pay my respects as a Gangulu man from Central Queensland.
I begin by paying my respects to the Kaurna peoples, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today, I pay my respects to your elders, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us, And thank you, for your generous welcome to country for all of us.
I begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders. I would also like to thank the LIME conference organisers -- and Gregory Phillips and Lisa Jackson-Pulver in particular -- for inviting me to speak tonight and for organising this event and for ensuring that Indigenous health – so often overlooked in the ongoing debates about health and health reform in Australia – receives the attention it deserves in this context.
I would normally begin my speech with an acknowledgement of the traditional owners – but today I need to first express my thanks to Jackie for stepping in to give me voice.
There are many influences on government when it comes to Indigenous policy creation. Many have contrasting opinions, some are for pecuniary or self interest, some because they feel Indigenous people get too much, others because it is a power trip, others because of an academic interest and for others because they want to see an improvement in the quality of life of Indigenous people. This speech considers:
Mick Dodson, the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner said in his First Report that "A decent standard of health and a life expectancy equivalent to others is an entitlement. Social justice is not primarily a matter of the relief of suffering. It is a matter of the fulfilment of a responsibility. To draw this distinction is not to deny that the facts by themselves speak out for a remedy. Nor is it to deny that compassion is a proper response. But compassion is an insufficient foundation for the delivery of rights".
Australian Life Underwriters Association and Claims Association conference 5 November 2000 Graeme Innes AM Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner
But people with disability for the most part were either invisible within mainstream education, or invisible because they were excluded and segregated off somewhere else.
On March 30 this year Australia lined up with 80 other countries at the UN in New York to sign the Convention on the Rights or Persons with Disabilities
I would like to thank you Councillor Kemmis and your CEO Monica Barone for the invitation to attend this Forum as it gives me an opportunity to discuss the critical role that Local Government can play in ensuring people with disabilities have access to, and are able to contribute to, the social, cultural, economic and political community in which we live.
I would like to thank ACROD for inviting me to deliver the Kenneth Jenkins Oration; both because I regard it as a privilege and because it gives me the opportunity to address a gathering of the key people in the disability field at an important time in the work of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Review a speech about human rights, democracy and women's choices delivered by former Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward in Newcastle in 2002.
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