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Disability Rights

25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act

It was 25 years ago this month that the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (the ‘DDA’) commenced operation. On 1 March 1993, Australians with a dis¬ability had a national law that was designed to provide them with equality in many areas of life. Over the past quarter of a cen¬tury, the DDA...

Category, Opinion
Disability Rights

25 Years of the Disability Discrimination Act

The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Ms Catalina Devandas Aguilar, will be joining the Australian Human Rights Commission for a unique event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (DDA) on 1 March, 2018. The event – a panel...

Category, News
Commission – General

Sexual Harassment - Safer Workplaces

The Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins delivered the keynote address at the Women in Film and TV NSW - Safer Workplaces Strategies forum. Good morning everyone. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which you meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Human Rights Awards 2017

Acknowledgments Thank you, Aunty Norma Ingram, for your very warm welcome to country. The Australian Human Rights Commission is honoured to be here today on the ancestral lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and future and warmly welcome any...

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Media Award Finalists

This year saw a substantial increase in the number of nominations for the Media Award. “The large number of nominations for the media category is testament to the strength of Australian journalism despite a rapidly changing media landscape. “It is encouraging that so many journalists are producing...

Category, News
Rights and Freedoms

Proposed modern slavery legislation ‘a good first step’

Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow has welcomed a Federal Government proposal to legislate against modern slavery. Commissioner Santow said Government plans to require large businesses to report annually on their actions to address modern slavery are “a good first step”. “Further action will...

Category, News
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
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
Sex Discrimination

National Press Club speech - Kate Jenkins

‘Accelerating change: gender equality from the household to the workplace’ Kate Jenkins Sex Discrimination Commissioner Australian Human Rights Commission National Press Club 20 April 2016 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the Traditional Custodians and First...

Category, Speech
Age Discrimination

Older Women's Network International Women's Day Conference

I start by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. To all of you here today at the OWN conference, happy International Women’s Day for 2016. It has always been my approach to International Women's Day to mark the things we as women have to celebrate. As older women in Australia at this...

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Australasian Law Reform Agencies Conference

Domestic and family violence and human rights - We all have a right to live our lives free from violence, especially in our relationships, our families and in our homes.

Category, Speech
Employers

HR Leaders Forum

Rights and Responsibilities: Creating Better Workplaces for all Australians

Category, Speech
Business and Human Rights

Launch of Human Rights in Supply Chains: Promoting Positive Practice

After years of debate and consultation led by Professor John Ruggie, the United Nations Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, there is now clarification at the international level about the responsibility of business through the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Introduction of the Religious Freedom Roundtable

Thank you. Thank you to the Attorney-General for his presence this morning. I know he has to run because he has commitments in Canberra, but I greatly appreciate his efforts to come this morning to support the discussions we are about to have. I’d also like to thank the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, who will be present for part of this morning as an observer.

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act

In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...

Category, Opinion

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