President Speech: 2009 Human Rights Day Oration
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to address you today and express my admiration to you all for taking on the very necessary venture of providing practical legal assistance to some of the most powerless and marginalised people in society.
Torture and various forms of terrorism have been practiced throughout history, though never on the scale we are now confronted with. The first visual records of police interrogation were discovered in a four thousand year old tomb in ancient Egypt. Since the pharaohs there have been many refinements in methods of inducing physical pain and gathering intelligence, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition, but more recently in the modern totalitarian state.
Speeches by Professor Gillian Triggs, President, Australian Human Rights Commission Professor Gillian Triggs was appointed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission from 30 July 2012. Click here to access her biography. [ Year: 2012 ] 2012 APS Human Rights Network Delivered by Professor...
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are on Gadigal country and I pay my respects to Elders past and present. Thank you Allen for your welcome to country as well.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Nganawal people, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today and to pay my respects to their elders. I would also like to thank the Australian Medical Students Association and Shayne McArthur for organising this National Leadership Development Seminar, and ensuring that Indigenous health – so often overlooked in the ongoing debates about health and health reform in Australia – receives the attention it deserves in this context.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are gathered today, and pay my respects to their elders.
1. In what follows I have not ventured into the history of proposals for a treaty between the aboriginal peoples of Australia and the Government of Australia. Others here will know this much better than I. Nor do I wish to suggest in detail what such a treaty might contain, if it were possible to bring it about. My purpose is to address the nature of treaties in international law, the possibility of treaties between state and non-state parties, and some contemporary forms of treaty-making in the international arena that might offer some helpful models or analogies.
It is a very great honour for me to be invited to give this third lecture in commemoration of the great Aboriginal mathematician and scientist, David Unaipon.
I also acknowledge Keith Wilson, President of the Mental Health Council of Australia; Chief Executive Officer Dr Grace Groom; and others here who have profound knowledge of mental health issues as family members and carers, as professionals, and as people directly affected by mental illness.
Access to telecommunications services and equipment is increasingly, something that affects us all - an essential part of social interaction, of work, and of access to or participation in an ever greater range of activities and services. All of us, rather than just ET, phone home. This month, mobile phones celebrated 21 years of service in Australia . And yesterday stockbrokers announced the availability to trade on the stock exchange using SMS.
A long, long time ago, I can still remember sitting down to write my first Roundtable speech.And I thought if I had a chance, then human rights I could advance And equal access wouldn't stay just out of reach And now I'm here again to give a Few thoughts and perhaps deliver Some good news on your doorsteps And talk about some next steps
Allow me to commence by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and by so doing remind ourselves that Australia's cultural traditions stretch back many thousands of years. I acknowledge also people with disabilities here together with advocates and other conference participants.
Address by Age Discrimination Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald: Intervention of the Australian Human Rights Commission to 14th session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing. Delivered on 23 May 2024.
Let me first pass on regrets from Sev Ozdowski that he was not able to be here as planned. He very much wanted to attend this as the first major disability conference since he commenced duty as Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the end of last year - but he had surgery this week that meant he could not travel.
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