Commission – General
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.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
With respect and gratitude I acknowledge that we sit on the lands of the Gadigal peoples of the Eora Nation, and I thank the Traditional Owners for allowing us to do so.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are on Gadigal country and I pay my respects to Elders past and present. Thank you Allen for your welcome to country as well.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Good evening distinguished guest, ladies and gentleman. Friends, I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Good morning Senators, Members, ladies and gentleman and friend in the public gallery. I acknowledge and pay my respects to the Ngunnawal peoples and their ancestors, the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting today.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
1. In what follows I have not ventured into the history of proposals for a treaty between the aboriginal peoples of Australia and the Government of Australia. Others here will know this much better than I. Nor do I wish to suggest in detail what such a treaty might contain, if it were possible to bring it about. My purpose is to address the nature of treaties in international law, the possibility of treaties between state and non-state parties, and some contemporary forms of treaty-making in the international arena that might offer some helpful models or analogies.
Disability Rights
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the launch of the report of the national inquiry into the human rights of people with mental illness. This report is the result of extensive research; public hearings in all States and Territories; and oral evidence and written submissions from over 1300 witnesses. I have been extremely fortunate to have the assistance of two commissioners with a long standing interest in the area of mental health - Dame Margaret Guilfoyle and Mr David Hall.
Disability Rights
I'd also like to acknowledge, as I have done at similar conferences previously, what I have owed personally to people in education in NSW. Education with the support of many great education professionals together with support from family and friends to achieve my goals is why I am in the position I hold now. I compare that to the position of many blind and vision impaired people, facing over 80 per cent rates of unemployment or underemployment.
Disability Rights
Allow me to commence by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and by so doing remind ourselves that Australia's cultural traditions stretch back many thousands of years. I acknowledge also people with disabilities here together with advocates and other conference participants.
Commission – General
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001, Governments around the world have created a raft of new counter-terrorism laws. In Australia alone, over 40 new laws have created new criminal offences, new detention and questioning powers for police and security apparatus, new powers for the Attorney-General to proscribe terrorist organisations, new ways to control people’s movement and activities without criminal convictions, and new investigative powers for police and security agencies.
Business and Human Rights
In our new strategic plan we commit to 'motivating big business to incorporate human rights into their everyday business practice'.
Rights and Freedoms
I should add, at this point, that my work over the past few years and my inquiry on children in immigration detention (CIDI), in Australia, the report of which "A last resort?" was tabled in the Australian Federal parliament in May of 2004, has made me even more keenly aware of the fragility of child asylum seekers. But more on that later!
Rights and Freedoms
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Worimi people who are the traditional owners of this land and a timely reminder that we are all immigrants to this vast continent.
Commission – General
Human rights are said to be universal and indivisible. This paper explores how far that universality introduces human rights principles into the functions and work of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The answer, I think, could be “further than you realise”.
Commission – General
Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal peoples, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
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