Address to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Annual Conference
A little over a month ago, I started as the new President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, ending my time as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.
A little over a month ago, I started as the new President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, ending my time as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.
International Human Rights Day falls on 10th December each year. It marks the occasion on 10th December 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I would like to begin by thanking the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) for inviting me to address you today, and thank Margaret Boylan (Regional Director, APS Commission, SA/NT) for her warm welcome.
Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have required very quick action by governments. But those responses have also involved significant limitations on people’s rights and freedoms, especially freedom of movement, and implemented through executive power often with limited parliamentary involvement.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.
Firstly, I’d like to begin by paying my respects to the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, 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.
In his introduction to the announcement of the 2020 summit the Prime Minister was succinct in his diagnosis of the challenges we face as a nation in today’s global community. He says and I quote
I would like to begin by acknowledging all the traditional owners of the land where we meet, the Ngunawal Ngambri people. Thank you Matilda House for your welcome and for joining us here today. It is a pleasure to jointly address the Press Club with Fred Chaney from Reconciliation Australia. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and Reconciliation Australia have a history of working in partnership together.
I would like to start this afternoon by acknowledging the Noongar people, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today. For those Noongars here – I’d like to congratulate you in the success of your native title claim over this area. Your determination and your ability to work together as a group to pursue this claim is an inspiration to all of us. Indigenous property rights and connection to land are crucial considerations for this presentation because they underpin any discussion about human rights, Indigenous people and land matters.
Thank you to Jon Altman and Boyd Hunter for the opportunity to speak at this important conference. It has provided an excellent opportunity for researchers, bureaucrats and policy-makers to discuss the adequacy of current collection methods for socio-economic data relating to Indigenous people, how such data might be improved and how it might be better utilised.
To set the scene for my presentation this afternoon, I want to share two autobiographical fragments with you, both of them having to do with my experience at university.
I was pleased to get this invitation to make a contribution to this forth and final workshop on the development of Disability Action Plans organised by the Office for Disability.
One day during the Christmas school holidays, my nine-year-old daughter came into the loungeroom, where I was relaxing with a glass of Scotch, and said: "Dad, the window won't pop up -- you have to come and fix it".
I suppose we all have things we've passionate about - causes that we'd be prepared to die for, issues that give us the will to carry on in the face of criticism and ridicule.
I am sure I am not the first person to say it, but it seems to me that there are particularly important reasons for a telecommunications company such as Telstra to be interested in diversity.
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