President speech: ‘How could a Human Rights Act lead to better Government?’
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal peoples, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal peoples, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
Where: Australian College of Educators (the Boardroom) James Darling House 42 Geils Court Deakin, Canberra When: Saturday May 17 Time: 11.00am for 11.30am (see appendix 1)
I would also like to thank the Law Council of Australia and its Advisory Committee on Indigenous Legal Issues for inviting me to deliver this address, and to take part in the customary law panel discussion later today.
I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal People , the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Some of us here were sitting in a stuffy conference room in the UN headquarters in New York when the Working Group completed its drafting of the convention. It was only stuffy because - in true UN style - we had exceeded our time limit for the session, the interpreters had gone home, and the air-conditioning had been turned off. But for most of us, these disadvantages paled in the excitement of what we had achieved. And that excitement was amplified as we watched the General Assembly confirm our work.
My congratulations to the organisers for organising this forum and opportunity to discuss a potential mechanism to protect the rights of people with mental illness and enhance the delivery of mental health care.
I am here today partly because Michelle Castagna was quick off the mark in organising me to come before I had accepted any of the numerous other possibilities for events for the international day.
As lawyers who work every day with ordinary people, you will all have first hand experience of the value that we, in Australia, place on human rights. You will also be acutely aware of the significant gaps in human rights protection in Australia.
The Australian HR protection system is a direct result of the history and development of white settlement in this country. If you compare us with the United States, we Australians had no free settlement, no War of Independence and little or no nation building by private entrepreneurship; rather it was done by way of British government fiat.
When the CWA started in 1923 about 40% of Australians lived in rural communities. Rural Australia was made up of small but functioning communities whose members had to work hard but could make a living from the land.
I would like to begin today by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation of peoples and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
When I first entered the law 'benchbooks' were closely guarded, leather bound books into which judges carefully entered notes as a case progressed - usually I thought adverse comments and exclamation marks about one's arguments or less than flattering remarks about one's principal witness. These books seemed to be some kind of secret code to the outcome of cases and never saw the light of day.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on tonight. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Thank you Sharron for your introduction, and thank you Uncle Lewis O’Brien for your warm welcome to country. And congratulations to the Taikurtinna Dancers for a great performance and oration.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet - the Waradjuri nation and the elders present. I also acknowledge our hosts - the Dijrruwang Program at Charles Sturt University , and thank you for inviting me here to address this Gathering.
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