Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Good afternoon. I’m Warwick Baird, Director of the Native Title Unit at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. What a great conference it has been so far. Thanks AIATSIS for a wonderful job, Lisa Strelein and all your colleagues thank you for all your hard work.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation on whose land we are today and pay my respects to their elders. I’d like to thank the organisers for inviting me to speak, and I would like to acknowledge you, the Aboriginal field staff. You have an important role and I pay tribute to you and your work.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would like to thank Professor Larissa Behrendt, Professor Martin Nakata, the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, and the Reconciliation Working Party at the UTS, for hosting this event. And I acknowledge my distinguished fellow speakers.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
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:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Both are written by Dr William Jonas, who is here today. As you would know he is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I don't care how hard it is. You build Aboriginality or you get nothing. There's no choice about it. If our Aboriginal people cannot change how it is among themselves, then the Aboriginal people will never climb back out of hell. 1
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
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.
Disability Rights
I've always been fascinated by numbers. Although remembering some of my maths exam results, I'm not so sure that they have been as fascinated by me. If you ask a group of people to say the first number that comes into their heads, you'll get a lot of 7's. Perhaps it's because we all have an intuitive awareness that 7 is the smallest number of faces of a regular polygon that cannot be constructed with a ruler and compass.
Disability Rights
Can I also acknowledge Blake Dawson Waldron lawyers for providing the venue and facilities, and the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Service for their initiative in organising this forum.
Disability Rights
I am here today representing, firstly, the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), and, second, I'm here to represent at least 20% of the population, and 20% of your customers and users if you are a web developer or web content manager: of course, I'm referring to people who have a disability.
Disability Rights
I always like to begin my presentations with a humorous anecdote or joke of some kind. For one thing, it lets me know that someone is actually listening, and it also lulls the audience into a false sense of security for the dry parts to follow. So as part of my preparation for this morning's discussion of disability discrimination law in Australia, I decided to find an answer to the important question, "how many audiologists does it take to change a lightbulb". Fortunately there is a website devoted to lightbulb jokes, and so I duly consulted it.
Disability Rights
It is a pleasure to be able to be here to present a certificate of appreciation which, in a small way, commemorates Barossa Council's commitment to equality and access for people with disabilities through its development of a Disability Action Plan under the Disability Discrimination Act.
Disability Rights
I am honoured and delighted to be here to deliver the Kenneth Jenkins Oration. My participation continues the involvement of members of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission with this event.
Race Discrimination
I also acknowledge colleagues from government, and from non-government organisations, including from a wide range of churches and faith-based organisations. And particularly can I acknowledge colleagues from the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Hass Dellal and Athalia Zwartz, and Professors Gary Bouma and Des Cahill, as the authors of the report we are receiving and launching today.
Visit our media centre for up to date contact details for all media enquiries.
