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Commission – General

COVID-19's unexpected lessons

Six weeks ago I returned to my traditional homeland near Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia. Thanks to modern technology, I am working remotely and continuing my duties as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. Like many Aboriginal people, I chose to return to...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous Australians can be bystanders no longer

Two years ago, we gathered in the red dust for a ceremony at Uluru and offered a gift to all Australians.   There was a great sense of hope about what this gift could deliver. A new beginning, an opportunity to re-define who we are as a country. A country that celebrates its First Peoples and resets...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Our Choices, Our Voices - Celebrating Success on National Close the Gap Day

This Opinion Piece by June Oscar AO and Rod Little was published by Guardian Australia on Thursday March 21, to mark National Close the Gap Day When the Prime Minister Scott Morrison tabled the 2019 Closing the Gap report last month, we were again reminded about the lack of progress made to address...

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Don't let the spotlight burn

This International Women’s Day I anticipate the usual round of queries asking: “When is International Men’s Day?” In a world where women receive 85 per cent of salary of men on average, when at least one woman a week dies at the hands of their current or former intimate partner and where you have a...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Turning the tide on Indigenous children in out of home care

Child protection intervention in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families across the country is at crisis point. Women are telling me it’s like another stolen generation and as I travel across Australia hearing their stories, it certainly does feel that way. As the 2018 Family Matters report...

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Time to let harassment victims speak

The #metoo movement globally has been about women speaking out, exposing perpetrators and sharing their stories. Locally, recent high profile sexual harassment cases have been about women who did not want to share their stories but had them shared against their will. Silence and disclosure. Privacy...

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Australia's journey to a National Inquiry into workplace sexual harassment

The following opinion piece by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins appeared in Fairfax papers - SMH, the Age and The Canberra Times On 5 October 2017, I boarded a flight from Britain. By the time I landed in Melbourne, the world had changed. The New York Times story exposing decades of...

Category, Opinion
Commission – General

Criminal record discrimination

This article by Commission President Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher was published in the Australian July 4, 2018 I recently provided a report to the Attorney-General about a man who claimed that he had been refused a job because of his criminal record. The criminal record was very serious. ...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women's Voices) project so far...

The following opinion piece by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar appeared on ABC Online on May 24, 2018 Next month, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians will celebrate NAIDOC week — with the theme Because of Her We Can. It's because of the...

Category, Opinion

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