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Disability and human rights

Allow me to commence by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Wallumattagal clan of the Eora peoples. Let me also acknowledge my fellow speakers, as well as other distinguished guests and friends.

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Race Discrimination

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Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now an accepted truth that all countries are affected by the rapid increase in the movement of people, commodities and ideas at the global level as well as the increase in cultural, ethnic and religious diversity that these movements bring. Many countries, including Australia, are working to develop ways of managing the social impact of these trends. Addressing racism is essential to this task.

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Rights and Freedoms

Launch of Human Rights Week, Tasmania

I’d also thank the Human Rights Week Organising Committee here in Tasmania, and congratulate them on their 20th Anniversary. Human Rights Week has been successfully and continuously marked with a number of events each year over the past 20 years in Tasmania. And that in itself, is a remarkable achievement.

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Rights and Freedoms

THE CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2003)

"....the fundamental conflict in the next millennium will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural"...

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Rights and Freedoms

Human Rights Day address: Chris Sidoti (1996)

Forty eight years ago this Tuesday, on December 10 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration was a response to the trauma that many of the world’s nations had experienced in World War II. The trauma was especially strong among the nations of Europe, particularly because of the Holocaust, but it was also evident in East Asia, South Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific.

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Commission – General

National Legal Aid Best practice Conference

I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna People, the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

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Commission – General

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I am very grateful for this opportunity to address this speech night. 1998 is an historic year. Not only does it mark the 130th anniversary of Brisbane Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Brisbane, it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are both significant anniversaries and they are tied together by the importance they place on the role of education to inform, instruct and inspire.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

'Still Riding for Freedom’ (2008)

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land where we are meeting tonight, the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to your elders and to those who have come before us. And thank you to Chicka Madden for your generous welcome to country. Chicka and I spent a term together on the Board of Aboriginal Hostels.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of Cairns, the land where we meet today, and to pay my respects to their elders. I would also like to thank the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and Professor Ernest Hunter for organising this event and inviting me to open this very important conference.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The End in the Beginning: Re(de)finding Aboriginality: Dodson (1994)

I don't care how hard it is. You build Aboriginality or you get nothing. There's no choice about it. If our Aboriginal people cannot change how it is among themselves, then the Aboriginal people will never climb back out of hell. 1

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Disability Rights

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Can I also acknowledge Blake Dawson Waldron lawyers for providing the venue and facilities, and the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Service for their initiative in organising this forum.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Burdekin: The Human Rights Of Australians With Disabilities

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.

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Sex Discrimination

Efficiency, Effectiveness and Equity in Public Administration

When I first started to think about your conference title, “Exploring the Three E’s, Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity”, I had to admit my first thought was why are we still talking about this? Why are the connections between these three outcomes still considered to be a matter of debate, why do we still need to make the case that equity is a legitimate concern?

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