News

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Launch of Ros Kidd's 'Black lives, government lies' (2nd edition)

Dr Kidd has made an enormously valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of relations between Indigenous peoples in Queensland and government. Because of her commitment and tenacity in obtaining access to, and then exposing the contents of, government records about the administration of Indigenous peoples' lives, we now know far more about the precise details, the extent and the nature of the control exercised by governments in Queensland over the lives of Indigenous peoples over the past 100 years than we otherwise would.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Democracy, the media and human rights: Dodson (1997)

Throughout many western democracies contemporary beliefs about the role of the media are directly shaped by enlightenment ideals and the struggle against state despotism. Although somewhat tarnished, these ideals continue to inspire resistance to oppression, and sustain battles for freedom of conscience, speech, and individual liberty, for political self determination and democratisation.

Disability Rights

3rd National Conference on Human Rights and Mental Health

I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal People , the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Disability Rights

Innes: Special Education Leaders Conference

I'd also like to acknowledge, as I have done at similar conferences previously, what I have owed personally to people in education in NSW. Education with the support of many great education professionals together with support from family and friends to achieve my goals is why I am in the position I hold now. I compare that to the position of many blind and vision impaired people, facing over 80 per cent rates of unemployment or underemployment.

Disability Rights

Australian Institute of Building Surveyors Conference

I would like to start by thanking Bill Burns and the NSW AIBS for this invitation to address your annual conference on an issue that over the next few years is going to see significant changes in the way we design, construct and manage the buildings we use for work, education, entertainment and service delivery.

Disability Rights

Recognition matters: Human rights and the rights of carers

For thousands of years, Aboriginal groups, who might spend much of their time living far apart in the expanses of this land, pursuing separately the business of survival, would come together at times to meet, to trade, sometimes to resolve differences, but also to exchange knowledge for mutual benefit.

Disability Rights

Launch of ABC Disability Awareness resources: An ABC for all Australians

Tonight's ceremony is, in part, a belated celebration of the recognition of the ABC as national award winner in the Prime Minister's Employer of the Year awards for 2000.

Commission – General

President Speech: Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture Annual Oration

I would like to begin this evening by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Sex Discrimination

Paid maternity leave: Working for women

Because in addition to being integral members of the workforce, women are the bearers of and remain the primary carers for children. So if it isn't working for her then it isn't working for her family, her partner, her children and babies.

Rights and Freedoms

GLBTI Human Rights Conference: Issues in the Asia Pacific Region

Many communities use sport as a way to build peer friendships, and enjoy favourite activities in an atmosphere which is safe and supportive. Some years ago- too many sadly- I enjoyed a bi-annual Australian cricket carnival played between teams of people who were blind or had low vision. This is exactly what is happening at these games, and I trust that the links and friendships built through the activities will be positive and long-standing ones, as they were for me.

Rights and Freedoms

59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Read a statement about the history of the Australian Human Rights Commission, which was presented at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in 2003.

Rights and Freedoms

Human Rights Day address: Chris Sidoti (1996)

Forty eight years ago this Tuesday, on December 10 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration was a response to the trauma that many of the world’s nations had experienced in World War II. The trauma was especially strong among the nations of Europe, particularly because of the Holocaust, but it was also evident in East Asia, South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific.

Commission – General

President Speech: QUT Law Graduation Ceremony Occasional Address

Acting Chancellor Mr Stephen Keim SC, Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake, Professor the Hon. Michael Lavarch, Executive Dean of Law, other members of the official party, Faculty staff, graduates and your families and friends.

Commission – General

Human Rights Education for Life

Thank you for inviting me here today, to speak about a topic which in my view receives too little attention yet is one of critical importance not only to the way we live but to the kind of society we live in – the topic of human rights education.

Commission – General

Site navigation

I was invited to pick my own topic for discussion. As an ex-judge being invited to speak to students of the law, I assumed that I was expected to speak on something related to the administration of the law from a judge's perspective. And as President of Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), I assumed I was expected to mention the role of human rights promotion in our legal system.