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I accepted the invitation to make this Oration and come here tonight with some trepidation: The person being honoured tonight, Dame Roma Mitchell, was the first federal Human Rights Commissioner and this is the territory that has known the powers of persuasion, conviction and commitment of the best human rights minds in the country, including Dame Roma Mitchell herself. Yet I reminded myself that…

I also want to thank the conference organisers for the opportunity to speak today. conferences such as this are great opportunities to discuss some of the pressing human rights issues in Australia. I'm particularly pleased to be talking about queer rights in the workplace, as fair employment conditions are some of the most fundamental of all human rights. Trade unions have a long history of…

The Human Rights Day Oration was delivered by James Spigelman, Chairman of the ABC and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW from 1998 until 2011. His keynote speech tackled the topical issue of ‘Where do we draw the line between hate speech and free speech?’

I hope that you are not expecting from me a speech full of stirring rhetoric, to inspire you before you settle into detailed and practical discussions throughout the rest of this conference.

Thank you Professor Lansbury, and thank you to Marian and the Women and Work Research Group for organising today’s forum. Thank you also to our panellists – Dr Lyn Craig, Petra Stirling, and John Murray.

I would like to thank ACROD for inviting me to deliver the Kenneth Jenkins Oration; both because I regard it as a privilege and because it gives me the opportunity to address a gathering of the key people in the disability field at an important time in the work of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

I’ve been asked here today to speak briefly about gender equality in workplaces and about the National Review on Discrimination Related to Pregnancy, Parental Leave and Return to Work, which I am currently conducting.

Over the last four years the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (the Commission) has played a key role in raising community awareness about the human rights Australians with a mental illness. The Commission, through its public inquiry process, brought into national focus how, amongst other things, people affected by mental illness frequently faced discrimination and stigmatisation…

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

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Kaurna peoples on whose land we meet this evening. I also thank Katrina Power for her warm welcome to country.