News

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Site navigation

It is a very great honour for me to be invited to give this third lecture in commemoration of the great Aboriginal mathematician and scientist, David Unaipon.

Rights and Freedoms

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Protection of Human Rights at the Federal Level: Graeme Innes AM (2006)

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present.

Rights and Freedoms

Human rights in regional, rural and remote Australia: Chris Sidoti (1998)

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.

Commission – General

Human Rights Day Address

I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay respect to their elders.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Speeches 2007: 40 years on: what does the ‘Yes’ vote mean for Indigenous Australians?

Anglicare, Tasmania Annual Social Justice Lecture 22 August, 2007 TOM CALMA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner National Race Discrimination Commissioner Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Sex Discrimination

Work Life Balance: AIM Breakfast

I hope you’re all enjoying your hot breakfasts and are extremely grateful for them. For a couple of reasons: First- you didn’t have to cook them yourself, or, to be more precise, wash up all the dirty frying pans yourself. This is because you are working and you don’t have time to cook hot breakfasts for a particularly fussy group of consumers, your family.

Rights and Freedoms

"The Content of an Australian Bill of Rights": DR SEV OZDOWSKI OAM (2002)

It is a pleasure to be able to address you today and I would first like to acknowledge the Gadigal people, the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand.

Commission – General

President Speech: QUT Law Graduation Ceremony Occasional Address

Acting Chancellor Mr Stephen Keim SC, Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake, Professor the Hon. Michael Lavarch, Executive Dean of Law, other members of the official party, Faculty staff, graduates and your families and friends.

Rights and Freedoms

Can rights solve the issue of homelessness?

Homelessness has, I'm sure, been on your agendas for many years. More recently, both Parity and the Rudd federal government (if I can put you both in the same league) has given it a much increased focus. Today, I want to identify the many human rights issues raised in the context of homelessness, and suggest how a human rights framework would help address what is an ever-increasing problem in our society.

Rights and Freedoms

Rights for All: A human rights perspective on regional development: Chris Sidoti (1999)

I would like to thank the Royal Australian Planning Institute for inviting me to speak today at Planning in the Hothouse and in particular on this panel, 'Forgotten Communities'.

Commission – General

President speeches: Human Rights in Australia

Thank you for inviting me here today to speak about human rights in Australia. I would like to use this opportunity to focus on how human rights are protected in Australia; and how you, as human rights educators, can help students to understand these protections. I will also seek to shed some light on the role of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and some of our responses to some current human rights issues.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

'Still Riding for Freedom’ (2008)

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land where we are meeting tonight, the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to your elders and to those who have come before us. And thank you to Chicka Madden for your generous welcome to country. Chicka and I spent a term together on the Board of Aboriginal Hostels.

Disability Rights

Presentation to State and Local Government CEO's (2009)

It's a great pleasure for me to be back in Perth , and particularly here at the Association For The Blind. During the eighties and nineties I lived in Perth for around ten years. I met and married my wife here, and still have strong family links. We still own property here and, if I have my way, we'll retire back here. Despite the fact that I have lived over East now for 16 years, I still barrack for the Eagles and the Western Warriors, and pronounce the suburb Coogee rather than Coogee.

Rights and Freedoms

"Immigration Detention - the Current Position"

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.

Commission – General

President Speech: What does it mean to believe in human rights in Australia today?

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of this land, the Pambalong clan of the Awabakal people, and pay my respect to their elders, past and present. Today I would like to explore the question: ‘What does it mean to believe in human rights in Australia today?’ This is an ambitious project, and I am aware that the question does not have a short and simple answer.