Presentation to University of NSW
To set the scene for my presentation this afternoon, I want to share two autobiographical fragments with you, both of them having to do with my experience at university.
To set the scene for my presentation this afternoon, I want to share two autobiographical fragments with you, both of them having to do with my experience at university.
I always enjoy receiving an invitation from Victoria to talk about Action Plans because I know that Victoria is a leader in the country in terms of organisational commitment to developing Action Plans.
I was around as head of the then Disability Advisory Council of Australia back in the late 80s and early 90s when ACROD and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission worked together on a discussion paper and consultation process to identify and pursue areas of increased need for human rights protection for people with disabilities.
There is substantial attention in the international community being directed at present to the human rights of people with disabilities. An international convention on human rights and disability is being actively considered through the United Nations system. I would have been attending a regional meeting in Beijing in April this year as part of this process but this was cancelled because of the SARS outbreak.
Almost every day there seems to be some new development in information and communications technology. Technologies which did not exist a few years ago are now worth many billions of dollars each year in economic activity.
Paper delivered by Elizabeth Hastings Disability Discrimination Commissioner 1993-97 at the Creating Accessible Communities Conference Fremantle, 12 November 1996
Let me start by saying that Australia is a culturally diverse society with 23% of Australians being born overseas. Amongst others, there is a sizeable Japanese community and, as you may hear from my accent, I myself was born in Poland.
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”.
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.
We are on Aboriginal land – and as a mark of respect to the traditional owners of this country – I want to recognise their culture and their law because they are integral to what we now call Coogee.
Australian Life Underwriters Association and Claims Association conference 5 November 2000 Graeme Innes AM Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner
Acknowledgment of where we stand and where we are is, it seems to me, an essential precondition to good decisions about where we want to go, and how we might get there.
Read a speech that highlights the importance of transport that is inclusive of people with disabilities so they can participate in all aspects of life.
While there is no section in the Disability Discrimination Act titled "Tourism" every aspect of the development, management and delivery of tourist services are covered by one or more provision within the DDA.
I am sure I am not the first person to say it, but it seems to me that there are particularly important reasons for a telecommunications company such as Telstra to be interested in diversity.
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