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.
News
Rights and Freedoms
LGBTIQ+
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Transgender Day of Remembrance Harmony Park, Goulburn St, Surry Hills Edward Santow, Human Rights Commissioner Check against delivery Acknowledgements Gadigal people of the Eora Nation Elders in the trans community, past and present. In particular, those people who have been victims of hate crimes...
Rights and Freedoms
National Faith and Civil Marriage Equality Forum
National Faith and Civil Marriage Equality Forum Hosted by Australians 4 Equality Main Committee Room, Parliament House, Canberra Edward Santow, Human Rights Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission Check against Delivery Introduction My late father used to talk about our family’s motley...
Children's Rights
Children's Week Address: Don't be scared - it's just information!
Introduction I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Arrernte people, and pay my respects to elders past, present and future. I would also like to thank Geraldine for the Welcome to Country, and to Tiara for her fabulous emceeing here tonight...
Rights and Freedoms
Peering through human rights-tinted glasses
Annual Lecture, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. Given at the State Library of Victoria on 7 October 2016. This year, we celebrate (or mourn, according to your perspective) the 60th anniversary of the first computer to defeat a human in chess. It occurred, predictably enough, in Los Alomos, and...
Disability Rights
The NDIS: delivering results, delivering equality and even delivering your coffee
Getting a morning coffee on the way to work is a ritual many of us take for granted. Not Jeremy, who is a young man with a communication disability. The thought of not only being able to order coffee, but run a business, was a pipe dream. Until the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)...
Disability Rights
Equal before the law? How the criminal justice system is failing people with disability
I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respect to their elders past and present. I am delighted to be here today to deliver the 2016 Annual Costello Lecture. Last year, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, delivered...
Children's Rights
A life free from violence and fear: a child’s right
2016 International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect Held by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in Calgary, Canada Introduction Good afternoon. It’s a pleasure to be here in Calgary today to speak about the work I have done as Australia’s first National...
Children's Rights
Pathways to Inclusion: the voice of the child in decision making
Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies Conference 2016 Introduction Good afternoon everyone and thank you Wendy for the introduction. It’s fantastic to be here today amongst so many people committed to the wellbeing of children in Australia. I too would like to acknowledge the traditional...
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...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Indigenous Property Rights: Land, Business and Governance
Thank you Galarrwuy for your warm welcome to Gulkula on your country. It is really wonderful to be here on the occasion the 40th anniversary of the Northern Territory Land Rights Act and another successful Garma Festival. I am a Gangulu man from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland, I acknowledge...
Rights and Freedoms
Jessie Street Trust Annual Lunch 2016
Jessie Street Trust Annual Lunch - I am pleased to join you today to honour the work and annual birthday of Jessie Mary Grey Lillingston Street, a remarkable, and very modern Australian woman. Well before the First World War, she was an advocate for many of the social issues we care about today; equality for women, constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians, world peace and for disarmament.
Sex Discrimination
Workplace sexism: we still don't want to talk about it
I'm not sure when the word "sexist" became one of the most polarising words in the English language. Is it really so bad to talk about something that many agree is alive and well in the Australian workforce and community? Despite laws prohibiting sex discrimination gaining wide acceptance in this...
Rights and Freedoms
Human rights across the Tasman: a widening gulf
I am honoured to have been invited to give this lecture at the Law School of the University of Canterbury, funded by the generosity of the Sir Eric Hotung Fellowship. While I had settled the subject matter of this lecture, I thought it would be helpful to know what other Hotung Fellows had discussed...
Rights and Freedoms
Female Genital Mutilation Conference
Check against delivery Female Genital Mutilation Conference A Human Rights Perspective I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and their elders past and present. May I welcome each of you to the Australian Human Rights Commission. Congratulations...
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