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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.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

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The topic for discussion is the role of human rights in good governance. Along the way I will touch on HREOC’s perceptions of cultural change at DIMA, legal roadblocks to cultural change, and the importance of human rights principles in the law and policy making process.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

H R Law Masterclass: Federal Anti-discrimination Law in an Employment Context: recent developments, likely future directions and the lessons from the past

To some of you the role of The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) in the industrial relations scene in Australia will be well known, others of you may be wondering why a representative of a human rights body would be speaking on this occasion. I propose therefore to briefly summarise HREOC's role in the administration of federal anti-discrimination law, including its complaint handling function, and to give some recent statistics.

Category, Speech
Age Discrimination

Building a better cultural inheritance for an ageing Australia

Hon Dr Kay Patterson AO Age Discrimination Commissioner Keynote Address to National Press Club of Australia, Canberra Wednesday, 28 June, 2023 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Welcome Thank you Andrew Tillett (National Press Club Vice President) for your kind introduction. I am sometimes introduced...

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Who’s driving the agenda?

I begin by paying my respects to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and I pay my respects to your elders, to your ancestors and to those who have come before us.

Category, Speech
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.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Making rights relevant

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. Whilst planning this speech, I was thinking that it was a long time since the first time that I addressed an NDS (then Acrod) conference. I was asked to give the Kenneth Jenkins memorial oration at the Acrod conference in the early 80s, as the first President of DPI Australia. The speech then was just the type that you would expect from the head of an advocacy organisation finding its feet, to the conference of the service provision organisation. It was brash, assertive and demanding.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

National Deafness Sector Summit

I'd also like to acknowledge Brian Rope's many years of contribution to the disability sector, and wish him well in retirement, and wish Nicole Lawder success as she moves into the CEO's role.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Past Achievements and Future Strategies in Educating the Public about Human Rights

Let me preface my remarks today with the assertion that, generally speaking, Australia has a strong and proud record on human rights. The Australian Government is formally committed to supporting the universal observance of human rights both at home and abroad saying that this policy helps to achieve a more stable and just international order, which benefits the security and prosperity of everyone. In this statement, the Government links peace to the observance of human rights, a topic to which I shall return.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

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Amongst all this expertise, it is fair to ask why is the President of the national human rights commission – and particularly a President who has only fairly recently commenced in this role - here presenting the keynote speech to such a conference?

Category, Speech

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