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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
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
Disability Rights

25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act

It was 25 years ago this month that the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (the ‘DDA’) commenced operation. On 1 March 1993, Australians with a dis¬ability had a national law that was designed to provide them with equality in many areas of life. Over the past quarter of a cen¬tury, the DDA...

Category, Opinion
Commission - General

Respect is essential to debates in civilised Australia society

We can all have our say within the bounds of law Respect is the essence of a civil society. It is the cornerstone of human rights - the "active voice" of dignity that links all the international conventions to which Australia has committed. Respect is tolerance. It is a fundamental basis of our...

Category, Opinion
Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Protecting refugees

As recent reports allege asylum seekers are being removed from Manus Island and returned to their place of origin, Commission President, Professor Gillian Triggs, reflects on the nation's responsibilities.

Category, Opinion
Race Discrimination

The AHRC and the Racial Discrimination Act: setting the record straight

Federal racial hatred legislation and the complaints-handling processes of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) are currently the subjects of an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee’s ‘Freedom of speech in Australia’ inquiry, due to report by 28...

Category, Opinion

We need a national picture of domestic violence homicides

Authors Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins and President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Professor Gillian Triggs In March 2010, shortly after making the decision to leave her abusive husband after more than 20 years of violence, Zahra Abrahimzadeh was stabbed to death in front of...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Listen to us: we know what we need

Decades of reports and inquiries have largely echoed what Indigenous leaders have long asked for: we want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be at the heart of any reform agenda involving our people, says Robynne Quiggin. The 2016 Social Justice and Native Title Report details the...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Striking the right balance on free speech

Discover how a former Human Rights Commissioner was asked whether the Racial Discrimination Act impinges on freedom of expression under international law.

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous injustice: so much evidence was ignored

I was shocked but not surprised by the ABC’s Four Corners revelations last Monday night. Incontrovertible CCTV evidence of Aboriginal children subject to demeaning, debilitating and dehumanizing behaviour has galvanised the Australian community and prompted the creation of a Royal Commission with an...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Children's rights must come first, says Mick Gooda

The recent death of a 10-year-old in the Kimberley is a tragedy and I pass on my condolences to her family at this particularly distressing time. This tragedy has heightened my conviction that the lives of all of our children in Australia are precious and should be protected at all costs. Nearly 20...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Generation to Close the Gap?

At the heart of this nation, there is a fundamental wrong in the relationship between the First Peoples and non-Indigenous people. We are divided between those who celebrate Australia Day without any thought of the implications of that day, and those who mourn Invasion Day and mark it as Survival Day...

Category, Opinion

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