Rights and Freedoms
Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues - thank you for your welcome to this Law Institute of Victoria seminar. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to their elders past and present. I will always have a soft spot for the Law Institute of Victoria. I was admitted...
Rights and Freedoms
Please check against delivery Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues- thank you for your welcome tonight. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay respect to their elders past and present. I am honoured to be a patron of Justice Connect...
Commission – General
Speech to the annual Human Rights Dinner, co-hosted by Justice Connect and the Human Rights Law Centre. Draft: check against delivery Thank you for your welcome tonight. Acknowledgement of country I am honored to be a patron of Justice Connect that has so successfully aligned probono lawyers with...
Rights and Freedoms
United Nations of Association of Australia National Conference Great Hall, University House Australian National University, Canberra 10 August 2013 9.40am Professor Gillian Triggs President, Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Download slides I...
Commission – General
May I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and the Darug language group. I also pay my respects to all Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders present today.
Rights and Freedoms
In 2006, I was a member of the Government-appointed Sheller Committee, which recommended the establishment of an independent review of counter-terrorism laws.
Rights and Freedoms
Five years ago I began my term as the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, confident in the ability of the common law and a robust democracy to protect human rights. I leave convinced we need a major legal and cultural overhaul in order to deal with the human rights challenges of the 21st century.
Commission – General
Note: Hon. John von Doussa, term as President ended in October 2008. The Hon. Catherine Branson was appointed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission on 7 August 2008 for five year term.
Rights and Freedoms
In the post-September 11 world, debate about counter-terrorism is often characterised as an argument between 'the realists', who appreciate the need for tough new counter-terrorism laws, and 'the out of touch', who fail to take the terrorist threat seriously.
Commission – General
In the newspapers of recent weeks we seem constantly confronted with similarly miserable and distressing events – a mortar attack on CARE Australia’s office in Baghdad; attacks on a synagogue and the British consulate in Istanbul; more suicide bombings in Israel.
Commission – General
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Kaurna people, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Commission – General
Firstly, I must applaud Amnesty International Australia’s campaign to secure a fair trial for David Hicks. I hope you take some heart from the recent US Supreme Court ruling that the military commissions set up to try prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are illegal and must be abandoned.
Rights and Freedoms
It's great to be here today. I can't think of a better time to be taking stock of developments in human rights law and policy in Australia, or a better place to be doing this than Victoria. As a Sydney-sider I have to admit I haven't always been fully appreciative of the number plates down here, which proclaim: ‘Victoria: The Place to Be!’ But there's no doubt that Victoria is the place to be right now, when it comes to human rights developments.
Commission – General
HREOC is a statutory body independent of government. While our main function is to promote an understanding and acceptance of human rights in Australia, we are also charged with the responsibilities of investigating, and attempting to conciliate complaints of unlawful discrimination under the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004.1 HREOC also has specific responsibilities to report annually to Parliament on the enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous Australians.
Commission – General
The topic of this seminar is ‘Criminal Justice in a climate of fear’. The word terrorism is not mentioned and yet the subject invites discussion of the impact of terrorism on life and laws in Australia.
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