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Chancellor Dr Ian Gould AM, Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Hoj, Members of University Council, Doctors, Emeritus Professors, Fellows and Senior Management and staff of this fine University, Graduands, Ladies and Gentlemen.          

It is a great honour to be invited to speak tonight at this special celebration for the Jewish people. Passover is a celebration of the journey of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt to freedom. It is a journey that represents taking responsibility for oneself, one’s community and the world.

First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

In such company my role as Human Rights Commissioner is not to speak as an expert on mental health, but to emphasise the human rights dimensions of the way that we as a nation respond to mental health issues.

It is a pleasure to be able to be here to present a certificate of appreciation which, in a small way, commemorates Barossa Council's commitment to equality and access for people with disabilities through its development of a Disability Action Plan under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Thank you, Dr Morgan, for the invitation to attend this launch of the Westpac Disability Discrimination Act Action Plan. I am most pleased to formally receive a copy for the Commission to register.

There have been some improvements in recent years. But there is a long way to go. Indigenous peoples make gains but they are often smaller than those made by the non-Indigenous population - so the disparity in life chances remains static. In fact, there has been very little reduction in this inequality gap in Australia in the past decade.

Australia became a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008. The rest of the world refers to it by the unappealing acronym of CRPD, or the Disability Convention, but I like to refer to it as the Disco. It's catchy, and it creates a great image for me of people with disability dancing, and being to go anywhere they want - although I haven't been inside a disco for…

Thank you Attorney General, and Minister Carr, and Parliamentary Secretary Shorten, for the invitation to participate in this launch of the Premises Standards. And thank you Ms Rein for your support of this important event. And its appropriate that the launch takes place in this building- one of the few in Australia with braille on its walls. Sadly, though, Qantas wouldn't let me bring my ladder…