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COMMISSIONER OZDOWSKI: Welcome to every one, I think we will start rolling and I would like to formally open this public hearing which is one of series of hearings conducted around Australia. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner and with me are my two Assistant Commissioners. To my right is Dr Trang Thomas, Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of…

COMMISSIONER OZDOWSKI: We would like formally to open this Public Hearing in Melbourne on 31 May. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner. I am assisted by two Assistant Commissioners - to my right is Dr Trang Thomas who is also Professor of Psychology at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and to my left is Mrs Robin Sullivan, who is the Queensland Children's…

4.1 Nationalities of the children in detention 4.2 Reasons for seeking asylum 4.3 Age of children in detention 4.4 Unaccompanied children 4.5 When did the children arrive in Australia? 4.6 How long are children kept in detention? 4.7 Movement of children across the detention network 4.8 Mental health and wellbeing of children in detention 4.9 Detention is a dangerous place 4.10 Rates of self…

It was a landmark for Australia - the first federal law to say that all people have the right to be treated fairly, regardless of their background, culture or colour.

The ADF Audit began at the end of August 2013, one year from the tabling of the ADF Review’s Report, in accordance with the Terms of Reference. While the ADF Review’s Report was broad in scope, the approach of the ADF Audit was necessarily more specific. Accordingly, the team conducting the Audit sought to gather evidence of the implementation of the recommendations contained in the ADF…

My name is Keysar Trad. I am the Vice President of the Lebanese Muslims Association in Sydney. The Lebanese Muslims Association was established in 1961 by a group of Lebanese Muslim citizens to advocate on behalf of Lebanese and other Muslims in the Australian community. We have over 1100 financial members and over tens of thousands who use our facilities on festive occasions, many or our members…

Throughout the course of the Inquiry, a number of serious disturbances occurred in immigration detention centres, including riots, fires, hunger strikes, protests, self-harm and suicide attempts.

In August 2001, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) began a comprehensive examination of the need or otherwise for a national paid maternity leave scheme in Australia.

Between 1 September 2008 and 22 November 2011, 180 young Indonesians who said that they were children arrived in Australia, having worked as crew on boats bringing asylum seekers to Australia. These young people were often fishermen from impoverished communities in the south and east of Indonesia. Many of them have spent long periods of time in immigration detention without being charged, or…

‘Finding my Family’, Rooth Wilay Robertson My painting depicts each family member, with all the different skin colours, as puzzle pieces finally all joined up to complete our story.

This chapter considers some of the Commonwealth’s practices regarding the use of wrist x-ray analysis as a means of assessing chronological age for the purposes of criminal prosecution. It highlights situations where the reliance on wrist x-rays as evidence of age was contrary to stated Australian Government policy; or where it contributed to individuals who were in fact children, or who…

Dad died when I was about two. My parents were married, but they often lived apart. When I was a little kid, they gave me to an Uncle and Auntie and the police took me away from them and put me in a Home. I have never been with my brothers and sisters at all. They were also put into the same Home. My brothers and sisters did not know that I existed until a nun said, 'Come and meet your little…

To those of you who have been following this Inquiry closely, it may be unclear as to why this hearing is taking place as I had said in December 2002 that those would be the last of the Inquiry's hearings. I will therefore briefly set out the history and methodology of the Inquiry to this point which will take us to why we are here today. I will then set out what steps remain to be completed…

The consultation was organised by the Illawarra Ethnic Communities Council and chaired by the ECC Executive Officer, Kathy Tzanis. The meeting was facilitated by Meredith Wilkie and Omeima Sukkarieh (notes) from HREOC with Omeima also interpreting parts of the discussion. It was attended by 14 invited participants.

I was adopted as a baby by a white European couple. They were married at the time. They couldn't have children and they'd seen the ads about adoption and were keen to adopt children.

One of the underlying goals of international and Australian laws relating to children with disabilities is to provide the highest possible level of support and assistance in the least restrictive way. Laws, policies and programs should be designed to ensure that children with disabilities have the opportunity to participate, to the maximum extent possible, in all aspects of the general community.