Tobacco control and closing the gap
Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Chair of the Close the Gap Steering Committee for Indigenous Health Equality
Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Chair of the Close the Gap Steering Committee for Indigenous Health Equality
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are gathered today, and pay my respects to their elders and to the ancestors. I would also like to acknowledge:
I am delighted to have been invited to speak to you tonight on the Eve of International Women's Day, as so many of you are at the eve of being women yourselves, whether international or not. I can tell you, from my own experience, that being a woman kind of creeps up on you: one minute you're a girl, or an adolescent (whatever that may really be), and the next you are a woman!
In my role, I have had the honour of meeting many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and men. It has been an incredibly inspiring journey where I have learnt enormously and made lifelong friends. Importantly, it has helped me to understand that reconciliation is as much about our own personal actions as it is about broader community or government actions.
John Baistow, Chairman of Member Australia Credit Union, thank you for your sponsorship of the Malcolm MacIntosh Memorial Lectures and thank you for inviting me here today.
HREOC is a statutory body independent of government. While our main function is to promote an understanding and acceptance of human rights in Australia, we are also charged with the responsibilities of investigating, and attempting to conciliate complaints of unlawful discrimination under the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004.1 HREOC also has specific responsibilities to report annually to Parliament on the enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous Australians.
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