Site navigation
Thank you for the opportunity to speak here this morning. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners, the Turrbal people on whose land we are on today.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak here this morning. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners, the Turrbal people on whose land we are on today.
The position of Social Justice Commissioner was created in 1993 in response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and HREOC"s National Inquiry into Racist Violence. It was created to ensure an ongoing, national monitoring agency for the human rights of Indigenous peoples.
Just over a month ago I wrote an opinion piece on reconciliation that was published in The Australian newspaper. That article was published on the eve of Corroborree 2000 and the handing over to the people of Australia of the declaration towards reconciliation by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. In that article, I posed the following question:
I would like to begin by paying my respects to the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. I pay my respects to your elders past and present, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us.
My thanks to the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, in particular to Phil Lynch, for inviting me to address this important gathering of human rights advocates and supporters about what I consider vital for the implementation and promotion of human rights in Australia.
Improving the health status of Indigenous peoples in Australia is a longstanding challenge for governments in Australia. The gap in health status between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians remains unacceptably wide.
Furthermore, I would like to thank Professor Mick Dodson and Mr. Parry Agius for the invitation addressed to me to deliver this lecture within the framework of the National Title Conference. In particular, I express my warmest thanks to the Acting Chairperson of the Conference Mr. Parry Agius for his very kind words about my humble work in the field of the protection of the rights of the world's Indigenous Peoples and my background.
I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people, the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting, and to honour their children. I thank them for the welcome they have extended to delegates of this conference.