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Race Discrimination

Graduation speech: Moral courage

Speech given at University of South Australia Graduation Ceremony Check against delivery It is wonderful to be joining you this afternoon. To all those who will be graduating very shortly, my warmest congratulations to you. And my congratulations as well to the proud families of graduands. In...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

The lion and the lamb: freedom of religion in multicultural Australia

The lion and the lamb: freedom of religion in multicultural Australia Affinity Intercultural Foundation: Lunchtime Lecture Series CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Introduction Acknowledgements Gadigal people of the Eora nation; Ahmet Polat. The Hon Ray Williams MP (NSW Minister for Multiculturalism, and...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

National Disability Services NSW State Conference ‘Turning Plans into Outcomes’

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and pay my respect to their elders past and present. I also pay respect to Aboriginal people present here today. Anne Bryce – thank you for the introduction. NDS board members, NDS members...

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Listen to us: we know what we need

Decades of reports and inquiries have largely echoed what Indigenous leaders have long asked for: we want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be at the heart of any reform agenda involving our people, says Robynne Quiggin. The 2016 Social Justice and Native Title Report details the...

Category, Opinion
Children's Rights

Launch of Children's Rights Report 2016

Introduction Good morning everyone. I want to begin by speaking about an artwork submitted by a young person detained in a youth justice centre. This was sent to me as an entry to an art competition I ran for children and young people in youth justice centres this year. I asked them to show me how...

Category, Speech
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...

Category, Speech
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...

Category, Speech
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...

Category, Speech
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)...

Category, Opinion
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...

Category, Speech
Age Discrimination

National Press Club speech - Susan Ryan

“The ageing revolution is not over” - Last time I spoke here I called my address “the longevity revolution”, and asked, “crisis or opportunity?”. I intended that question as a challenge but it seems my challenge has not been met. We are as a community, still floundering on the crisis side of the binary. Our approach is still steeped in the language of “burden” and “deficits”. We are still failing to realise the opportunities that longevity can create for us.

Category, Speech
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.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Australian Network on Disability Annual National Conference 2016

I would like to thank the Australian Network on Disability for inviting me to speak about the work I have been doing. As many of you would know, I have recently concluded the Willing to Work National Inquiry into Employment Discrimination against Older Australians and Australians with Disability...

Category, Speech

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