News

Commission – General

Presentation at the Governor’s Leadership Foundation Forum

HREOC is a statutory body independent of government. While our main function is to promote an understanding and acceptance of human rights in Australia, we are also charged with the responsibilities of investigating, and attempting to conciliate complaints of unlawful discrimination under the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004.1 HREOC also has specific responsibilities to report annually to Parliament on the enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous Australians.

Commission – General

Natural Justice Issues In A Tribunal Hearing

I was first approached by one of your Committee to speak tonight on a topic which sounded an easy one: "talk about your experiences in consensus judgments and how committees of more than one function". I shall amplify why that would be an easy topic in a moment.

Commission – General

H R Law Masterclass: Federal Anti-discrimination Law in an Employment Context: recent developments, likely future directions and the lessons from the past

To some of you the role of The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) in the industrial relations scene in Australia will be well known, others of you may be wondering why a representative of a human rights body would be speaking on this occasion. I propose therefore to briefly summarise HREOC's role in the administration of federal anti-discrimination law, including its complaint handling function, and to give some recent statistics.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Reconciliation Week Seminar Series

I begin today by paying my respects to the Ngunnawal peoples, the peoples on whose land we come to celebrate Reconciliation week today. I am of the Gangulu from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland and when I speak to my Elders, they ask me to pass on my salutations to the traditional owners of the land I visit, and thank them for their continued fight for their country and their culture. But today I also acknowledge their graciousness in sharing their lands and their culture with all those who live and visit here in the spirit of reconciliation.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

'Still Riding for Freedom’ (2008)

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land where we are meeting tonight, the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to your elders and to those who have come before us. And thank you to Chicka Madden for your generous welcome to country. Chicka and I spent a term together on the Board of Aboriginal Hostels.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous Home Ownership Panel Discussion

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Arrernte people – the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on today and by paying my respects to their ancestors.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Native Title and Service Delivery

My presentation today will focus on the content of my Native Title Report 2005. I will outline the debates about economic development on Indigenous land - the possibilities and the challenges. At the conclusion of this presentation I will provide some challenge statements about the responsibilities of service deliverers on Indigenous land.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Native Title and the Treaty Dialogue

It is very fitting that we discuss native title in the context of a treaty just one month after a very significant native title decision, the Miriuwung Gajerrong decision [1], has been handed down by the High Court. 406 pages of honed legal reasoning cut through almost the entire history of non-Indigenous land law in Western Australia to decide the final shape that native title would take for the Miriuwung Gajerrong people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and Citizenship

It is the intention of this paper to explore the concept of citizenship, and some associated ideas in order to present a perspective on the relevance of citizenship to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I will seek to examine some key principles in relation to citizenship which must be established in order to ensure full and just respect for the rights and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Disability Rights

Burdekin: NATIONAL INQUIRY

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the launch of the report of the national inquiry into the human rights of people with mental illness. This report is the result of extensive research; public hearings in all States and Territories; and oral evidence and written submissions from over 1300 witnesses. I have been extremely fortunate to have the assistance of two commissioners with a long standing interest in the area of mental health - Dame Margaret Guilfoyle and Mr David Hall.

Disability Rights

Innes: International Day of People with Disability 2008

On 16 December 1992, the General Assembly of the United Nations appealed to Governments around the world to observe 3 December of each year as International Day of people with disability. This is a day to celebrate abilities of people with disability all over the world. The aim of observing this day each year is also to increase awareness, and understanding, of disability issues and the gains to be derived from the integration of people with disability in every aspect of life. The nomination and celebration of this day is an important tool in promoting the rights of people with a disability.

Disability Rights

Housing, human rights and sustainability

Thank you especially to Margaret Ward, the previous National Convenor of the network and Amelia Starr the current Convenor for the excellent debate you have nurtured over the past few years between Government, the housing industry and the community.

Disability Rights

Presentation to the NSW Subcommittee of the Australian Braille Authority

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that we take for granted? When you're wandering through the breakfast cereal isle at the supermarket, for example, do you ever wonder whether Uncle Toby really was? If so, was he related to Sara Lee? Were Nana's apple pies originally made by Granny Smith? It's not so much that familiarity breeds contempt as that it lulls us into a state of mind where we no longer feel the need to question or even test our assumptions and presumptions.

Disability Rights

Hastings: Finding Your Own Shape

I am delighted to have been invited to speak to you tonight on the Eve of International Women's Day, as so many of you are at the eve of being women yourselves, whether international or not. I can tell you, from my own experience, that being a woman kind of creeps up on you: one minute you're a girl, or an adolescent (whatever that may really be), and the next you are a woman!