News

Rights and Freedoms

"Asylum Seekers": Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2002)

Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Worimi people who are the traditional owners of this land and a timely reminder that we are all immigrants to this vast continent.

Commission – General

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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”.

Commission – General

President speeches: The influence of human rights on judicial decision-making

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.

Commission – General

An update on the work of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)

I would like to acknowledge the Larrakia people on whose traditional land we meet today. I would also like to thank the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commission for hosting this event at such short notice. What I plan to do today is to talk briefly about a few of the issues which are currently on HREOC’s agenda. The first issue is HREOC’s Same-Sex Same Entitlements Inquiry.

Commission – General

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The Annual Mitchell Oration is held as a tribute to Dame Roma’s lifelong efforts to improve the respect in Australia for human rights, and to counter discrimination experienced by many people, especially women, members of Indigenous communities, and of ethnic minorities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The National Apology to the Stolen Generations one year on (2009)

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the Wurundjeri country, the land where we are meeting today, and thank Joy Murphy Wandin for her warm welcome to country. I pay my respects to your elders and to those who have come before us. I would also like to thank the Wunsyaluv dancers for the dances they have performed for us today.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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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

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Before I speak about agreement making on Indigenous lands, let me acknowledge the Larrakia people on whose land we are today. The Larrakia are the neighbours of my people the Kungarakan whose country borders the Larrakia to the south west of Darwin.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Norman Fry Speech in Darwin 2001

Social Justice Commissioner Dr William Jonas… Minister John Ah Kit…Commissioner Hill …Professor Bin Salik … Ladies and Gentlemen… Good evening.

Disability Rights

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About six weeks ago I had a dream in which I was about to give this presentation. As I was walking up to the lectern, I suddenly realised that I had forgotten to include anything about the National Arts and Disability Strategy. Not only had I forgotten to include it in my notes, but I couldn't remember a single thing about it. I started to imagine boos and hisses from the audience, projectile tomatoes, and (the presenter's worst nightmare) loud snores. But then, in the dream, I somehow knew that I could end it all by waking myself up. And that's what I did.

Disability Rights

Presentation to Queensland Taxi Council forum

Taxis are not subject to the same requirements as other modes, because at least in 1995-96 when drafting the standards it was thought that requiring 100% taxi fleet accessibility would be too onerous given

Disability Rights

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I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land upon which we meet, the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and future.

Disability Rights

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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

Disability Rights

Launch: Not for Service

In such company my role as Human Rights Commissioner is not to speak as an expert on mental health, but to emphasise the human rights dimensions of the way that we as a nation respond to mental health issues.

Disability Rights

Presentation to Web Content and Performance Management Conference

Good morning everyone. I'm actually thinking of developing a theory of corporate management based on reactions to that introduction. For example, when I say good morning to first year university students, they echo "good morning" back to me; when I say good morning to politicians, they remain silent, lest they be misquoted; when I say good morning to management consultants, they write it down; and when I say good morning to web content strategists, they hurry off to turn it into a inaccessible bitmap image.