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The following material was provided to the Inquiry by Michael Williams, Chairman of the Swedish Network of Refugee and Asylum Support Groups in a series of emails in April 2003.

Australia is a wealthy nation. In 2003, Australia ranked fourth in the United Nations Human Development Index (1) indicating Australians enjoyed one of the highest qualities of life in the world. Overall, Australia ranks equal fourth with the highest life expectancy at birth (79.0 years) suggesting Australians are among the healthiest people in the world. (2)

On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, on behalf of the Australian Parliament, made a historic and long overdue national Apology to the Stolen Generations. With eloquence and emotion, Prime Minister Rudd said what so many Australians have wanted to say, and what so many Indigenous peoples have needed to hear:

This will be how we assess the success or otherwise of the reconciliation process in years to come. The reconciliation process has the potential to be as significant, and difficult, as the process that led to the joining together of the states into one indissoluble federation in 1901. It challenges us to adapt the structures of society in ways that ensure that first nation peoples can participate…

Indigenous children throughout Australia remain very significantly over-represented `in care' and in contact with welfare authorities. Their over-representation increases as the intervention becomes more coercive, with the greatest over-representation being in out-of-home care. Indigenous children appear to be particularly over-represented in long-term foster care arrangements. A high percentage…

This report is a tribute to the strength and struggles of many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by forcible removal. We acknowledge the hardships they endured and the sacrifices they made. We remember and lament all the children who will never come home.

Where a complaint is made under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth) alleging breaches of human rights and discrimination in employment, the President or his delegate may report to the Attorney-General where conciliation cannot resolve the matter and an inquiry has satisfied the President there has been a breach of human rights or discrimination in employment. The…

In accordance with its supervisory responsibilities and Article 35 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) on its national inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

This collection of statistics has been chosen for their relevance in highlighting the key characteristics of the Indigenous population. It focuses on key areas such as health, education, employment, housing, and contact with criminal justice and welfare systems. Where possible, the data is presented in a way that identifies absolute and relative change in the situation of Indigenous peoples over…

In addition to the detailed findings in each of Chapters 5-16, the Inquiry has made the following major findings in relation to Australia's mandatory immigration detention system as it applied to children who arrived in Australia without a visa (unauthorised arrivals) over the period 1999-2002.

Pursuant to s 31(b)(ii) of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth), I attach, on behalf of the Commission, a report of an inquiry conducted by my predecessor, Professor Alice Tay. The inquiry dealt with a complaint of discrimination in employment by Mr Kenneth Douglas against the Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Defence Force).

During these ten years, thousands of individuals and organisations have used the DDA to create change, either by making complaints of discrimination, using the law as a basis for negotiating broad social change or educating organisations on their responsibilities.