WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2004
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders both past, present and future.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders both past, present and future.
Although the first Human Rights Commission was established by federal legislation in 1981, ICESCR was not added to its mandate (unlike the ICCPR). The omission was repeated when the new (current) Commission was established in 1986.
Let me join those who have spoken before me in acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present, and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders we have with us tonight.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
The following opinion pieces have been published by the President and Commissioners. Reproduction of the opinion pieces must include reference to where the opinion piece was originally published.
International Human Rights Day falls on 10th December each year. It marks the occasion on 10th December 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As the world awaits the birth of the new millenium with a level of anxiety we come to associate with expecting parents, I am pleased to note that the United Nations, in nominating 1999 the International Year of Older Persons, has not, at the last, forgotten the grandparents.
Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd; Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson; the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Jenny Macklin; former Prime Ministers, Professor Bruce Wilson representing the late Sir Ronald Wilson, Stolen Generations patrons Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue and Bobby Randall, NSDC Chair Helen Moran and SGA Chair Christine King, Ministers; Members of Parliament; Senators, members of the stolen generations and your families; my Indigenous brothers and sisters; and distinguished guests from around Australia and overseas.
I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and pay my respects to their Elders and Ancestors.
I begin by acknowledging the Gimiy Walubara Yidinji people, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and paying my respects to their elders. I also thank the National Indigenous Environmental Health Forum, the Conference Organising Group and Queensland Health for organising this event and inviting me to open this conference. And thank you to Shane Nicolls for his opening words and introduction.
Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, ‘The Right to Health of Indigenous Australians’ seminar, University of Melbourne Law School, 16 March 2006.
On 14 May 2002 the Attorney-General tabled the Social Justice Report 2001, my annual review of the exercise of human rights by Indigenous Australians, and the Native Title Report 2001, my annual review of native title developments, in federal Parliament.
I wrote the title for this presentation almost a year ago when I was first asked to give it. I came back to it two weeks ago to write the actual paper and thought "what does this mean?"
Just last December I was part of another launch for Telstra - the Big Print Bill. I talked on that occasion about how important and useful it is for all customers, including customers with disabilities, to be able to receive information in a form they can use.
A very big thank you, in particular, to our colleagues from the Australian Attorney-General's Department and theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mostly, of course, for their work with us, over many years, in advancing the human rights of people with disability, internationally and domestically. But also, for being (as far as I know) the first in the world to refer, officially, to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities not by its unappealing acronym of CRPD, or as the Disability Convention, but as the "DisCo".
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