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Commission – General

Making human rights real for all helps to keep democracies healthy

Many years ago, when I was a very young solicitor anxious to be taken seriously by my employers, I needed to do some banking in my lunch hour. When I arrived at my bank, I was confronted by a long queue. I assessed the pace at which it was moving and decided that I could get served and still make it back to the office on time. You can imagine my astonishment when, arriving at the front of the queue, the teller asked if I would mind stepping aside so that she could serve the men behind me who would need to get back to work!

Commission – General

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I have been asked to speak today about the contributions made to Australia by women from diverse cultures. A topic difficult for its breadth, depth and complexity - like our cultures and identities themselves. Made more difficult by the variety of women's experiences and the way we choose to define 'contribution.'

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Launch of Our Children Our Future report

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Native Title and Service Delivery

My presentation today will focus on the content of my Native Title Report 2005. I will outline the debates about economic development on Indigenous land - the possibilities and the challenges. At the conclusion of this presentation I will provide some challenge statements about the responsibilities of service deliverers on Indigenous land.

Disability Rights

Recognition matters: Human rights and the rights of carers

For thousands of years, Aboriginal groups, who might spend much of their time living far apart in the expanses of this land, pursuing separately the business of survival, would come together at times to meet, to trade, sometimes to resolve differences, but also to exchange knowledge for mutual benefit.

Legal

Human Rights and Climate Change: A Tragedy in the Making - Hon John von Doussa QC

I am very pleased to be here talking about Human Rights and Climate Change in the first of HREOC’s seminar series celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the ‘Declaration’).1

Rights and Freedoms

The human rights of older Australians in the bush: Chris Sidoti

I am very pleased to be here tonight at the Rural Ageing Seminar dinner. Thank you, to Dame Roma and the Rural Ageing Seminar Reference Group, for inviting me to attend an event that (for once) takes place where it counts - in rural South Australia.

Commission – General

President speech: How human rights can promote the wellbeing of children in Australia

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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I would like to thank Professor Larissa Behrendt, Professor Martin Nakata, the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, and the Reconciliation Working Party at the UTS, for hosting this event. And I acknowledge my distinguished fellow speakers.

Disability Rights

Risky Business?

I make this acknowledgment in all my public presentations, because recognising the indigenous history of this land is an important element in recognising the truth of our diversity as a people.

Disability Rights

NSW DET Teacher Consultants conference:Keynote Speech

Read a keynote speech on the inclusivity of people with a disability at a NSW Department of Education and Training teachers conference.

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.

Rights and Freedoms

Launch of Rights of Passage: Dr Sev Ozdowski (2005)

I would like to welcome everybody to the launch of Rights of Passage: A Dialogue with Young Australians about Human Rights. I thank you all for coming.

Commission – General

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Human rights are said to be universal and indivisible. This paper explores how far that universality introduces human rights principles into the functions and work of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The answer, I think, could be “further than you realise”.

Commission – General

The role of HREOC in the industrial relations scene: recent developments and future directions

I'll start with what's stayed the same. The fundamental restructuring of Australia's workplace relations system has left the functions of HREOC untouched. In particular there is no change in its responsibilities to investigate and conciliate complaints of unlawful discrimination.