10th International Criminal Congress
The topic of this seminar is ‘Criminal Justice in a climate of fear’. The word terrorism is not mentioned and yet the subject invites discussion of the impact of terrorism on life and laws in Australia.
The topic of this seminar is ‘Criminal Justice in a climate of fear’. The word terrorism is not mentioned and yet the subject invites discussion of the impact of terrorism on life and laws in Australia.
Diversity in Health is a conference about health. Multicultural Mental Health Australia is a multicultural health service. Vision Australia deals with issues and needs of people with print disability. What have these services and issues got to do with human rights, and why am I launching them? I'd like to reflect on these questions, and strongly argue that there is a fundamental connection between health and human rights.
In the contemporary world, and particularly amongst developed economies, many of us believed that the culture of civil liberties, freedoms and non-discrimination are reasonably well established and these precepts have clear links to innovation, creativity and the broader concepts of economic productivity and a well functioning civil society. Indeed, I believe that many of us had come to accept and expect this to be the situation, and that conferences like the one we attend here today could be built on this very premise.
Good morning. I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people, the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
In the second century AD, Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, thanked one of his brothers for teaching him to value "the conception of the state with one law for all, based upon individual equality and freedom of speech, and of a sovereignty which prizes above all things the liberty of the subject."1
The Hon Catherine Branson was President of the Australian Human Rights Commission from 7 August 2008 - 29 July 2012. Click here to access her biography.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Nyoongar people, the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on today. I pay my respects to their elders past and present. I thank you Kim Collard for your warm welcome.
I speak as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and National Race Discrimination Commissioner of Australia. I am a member of Australia’s national human rights institution.
Senator Scullion, distinguished guests and participants, can I begin by paying my acknowledgement to the Irukandjii Peoples, the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting and pay my respects to their elders. I would also like to thank the National Indigenous Environmental Health Forum, the conference organising group and Queensland Health for organising this event and for inviting me to address you. And thank you to Shane for his opening words and introduction.
I am honoured to present this distinguished lecture, which has been established as a tribute to the contribution of Sir Wallace Kyle to Western Australian society.
Acknowledgment of where we stand and where we are is, it seems to me, an essential precondition to good decisions about where we want to go, and how we might get there.
I want to talk today about the relationship between the lofty principles of international law on human rights and the practical realities for people with a disability in Australia.
Until a few weeks ago, this was an article of faith on the part of every politician. Now we are told we need to make significant policy changes to address weaknesses in our citizenship laws.
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, the Eora People, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present.
Although the first Human Rights Commission was established by federal legislation in 1981, ICESCR was not added to its mandate (unlike the ICCPR). The omission was repeated when the new (current) Commission was established in 1986.
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