President speech: Human rights, the Constitution and a Human Rights Act
We are gathered this evening on the land of the Ngambri people, from whom Canberra takes its name, and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
We are gathered this evening on the land of the Ngambri people, from whom Canberra takes its name, and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
I should add, at this point, that my work over the past few years and my inquiry on children in immigration detention (CIDI), in Australia, the report of which "A last resort?" was tabled in the Australian Federal parliament in May of 2004, has made me even more keenly aware of the fragility of child asylum seekers. But more on that later!
To be honest, this is a rare occasion for me. Much of my career has been spent in the monastic cells of academic institutions teaching the young about different legal systems; their origins and growth, their strengths and weaknesses. Your world - the world of business and industry, finances, profit and loss, sales and marketing - is largely foreign to me in a practical sense.
Human rights are said to be universal and indivisible. This paper explores how far that universality introduces human rights principles into the functions and work of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The answer, I think, could be “further than you realise”.
The title I have taken for these remarks is "Is there a slow lane on the information superhighway". I fear that by now there may already be something dated or quaint in using the term "information superhighway". I am going to use it anyway, and perhaps make matters of style worse by adding reference to a slow lane, because I think a few important issues are suggested by this title.
This morning I am going to talk to you about unaccompanied child migrants in the wider context of current world trends. In so doing, I have taken full account of the lessons to be learned from the experiences of the victims of British child migration schemes.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Noongar people, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
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
May I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
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.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders.
I am very grateful for this opportunity to address this speech night. 1998 is an historic year. Not only does it mark the 130th anniversary of Brisbane Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Brisbane, it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are both significant anniversaries and they are tied together by the importance they place on the role of education to inform, instruct and inspire.
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
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