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Disability Rights

25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act

It was 25 years ago this month that the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (the ‘DDA’) commenced operation. On 1 March 1993, Australians with a dis¬ability had a national law that was designed to provide them with equality in many areas of life. Over the past quarter of a cen¬tury, the DDA...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Research by Government Reform Bodies involving Vulnerable People and Populations

Ethics Training Day: Dealing with Vulnerability Princeton Room, Bond University, 14 University Drive, Robina, Qld CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Introduction I represent an organisation that works extensively with people who can be part of “vulnerable populations”. My background is as a human rights lawyer...

Category, Speech
Children's Rights

Is jail the answer for Australian kids?

This year around 900 children and young people will spend Christmas in jail. More than 5 per cent of this population are between 10 and 12 years old and 74 per cent of this age group are Indigenous. Most have been charged or convicted with petty crimes, like graffiti, vandalism, shop lifting or fare...

Category, Opinion
LGBTIQ+

I want to hold your hand: LGBTI people have some surprisingly modest aspirations

Visibility remains one of the greatest challenges in tackling the legacy of state-sanctioned discrimination against people on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status. In the past 30 years we’ve made great strides in ensuring people are treated equally before the law...

Category, Opinion
Race Discrimination

Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act

In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...

Category, Opinion
Disability Rights

Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday

Maria has cerebral palsy and little speech. She wanted to tell police about a sexual assault, but there was no communication support worker to help with the statement. The police relied on Maria's parents to provide communication support. Maria was uncomfortable giving personal details of the...

Category, Opinion
Disability Rights

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Presentation to Ageing and Disability Department training workshop on Disability Action Plans Michael Small, Disability Rights Unit, HREOC. February 1999

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Role of social workers as human rights workers with Indigenous people

Thank you to the Australian Catholic University for inviting me to speak today. As you no doubt know, I am a social worker by training , graduating in 1978, so it is wonderful to have an opportunity to address you. It is great to see so many upcoming social workers here today, as well as a number of you who have a wealth of experience and do so much good in our communities. It’s a tough job at the coal face. One that you often do in difficult circumstances, with little support, not to mention little money!

Category, Speech

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