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.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I begin by paying my respects to the Mouhenenner people, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. I pay my respects to your elders, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us.
Sex Discrimination
When I started in my new role as Sex DiscriminationCommissioner at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission last year, I thought I had a pretty good idea of the issues I would face. But I will be frank in saying that I am genuinely shocked by just how pervasive sexual harassment seems to be. I had thought, ''Who doesn't know these days that this behaviour is wrong and unlawful?'' Well, clearly many don't.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would like to acknowledge the Yolngu people on whose land we are today. I would also like to thank Charles Darwin University for inviting me to speak at this Garma festival where we celebrate the Yolngu culture and world view.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
There have been some improvements in recent years. But there is a long way to go. Indigenous peoples make gains but they are often smaller than those made by the non-Indigenous population - so the disparity in life chances remains static. In fact, there has been very little reduction in this inequality gap in Australia in the past decade.
Commission – General
In the age of globalisation there has been a massive increase in international migration and, as the number of international migrants has grown, so too has the problem of irregular migration. Many states have tried to stem irregular migration by introducing new border control measures and tougher criminal sanctions for people smugglers.[1] However, while effective border control is a legitimate objective of all sovereign states, state responses to the issue of irregular migration have often failed to protect the human rights of irregular migrants.[2]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Thank you for joining me here today to launch the Social Justice Report and Native Title Report for 2005. Both reports were tabled in the federal Parliament 6 weeks ago on 14 February 2006.
Disability Rights
I do this in all my public speaking not only because it is proper to do so but because this acknowledgment reminds us that human experience has many levels of diversity, and this of course includes disability.
Disability Rights
Allow me to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present.
Disability Rights
May I commence by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today and by doing so remind ourselves that Australia's cultural traditions stretch back many thousand of years.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
This is an acknowledgement that has been made by many other speakers today, and to commence my presentation what I want to do is to reflect on what it means to provide such acknowledgement, because it has a lot to do with the topic for this session.
May I begin by welcoming you all here today, including Senator Marise Payne who is representing the Commonwealth Attorney General, Professor Gordon Stanley, President of the NSW Board of Studies, Mr Duncan McGuiness from the NSW Parents Council and Mr Roger O'Sullivan from the Council of Catholic School Parents and Mr Kevin Bradburn from the NSW Department of Education. I also welcome the 30-odd students who have been selected to participate in this event and their teachers, and our guest speakers Mr Richard Shearman, Ms Sue Simpson and Ms Beverly Baker.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
From the moment Australia was colonised Indigenous peoples have suffered discrimination at the hands of a legal system imported into this land. Not only were our own laws cast aside, but the new laws discriminated against us - and did so because of our race. In 1997, while there has been movement away from former policies of assimilation, removal and protection, the dominant legal system still discriminates against us.
Sex Discrimination
This paper considers national and international legislative and other provisions regarding equality for women in the labour market. Australia ranks second to Sweden in terms of pay equity. It is argued that over the last two decades of global shifts to labour market decentralism and deregulation, Australian women have fared relatively well. Three fundamental reasons stand out:
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