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Corporate Australia should act on Thorpe's challenge - Opinion piece

The legacy of Ian Thorpe’s “coming out” is whether corporate Australia will dispel the myth that it won’t support gay and lesbian Australians reaching their full potential, says Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson, in an opinion piece first published in The Australian. Ian Thorpe won the...

Category, Opinion
Race Discrimination

The Asianisation of Australia?

Keynote speech to Asian Studies Association of Australia Annual Conference, “AsiaScapes: Contesting Borders”

Category, Speech
Children's Rights

The 53rd UN Youth Australia national Conference – Opening Ceremony

1. Introduction and Acknowledgements Good morning everyone and thank you to Claire for the introduction. Before I begin I too would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we gather on today; the Ngunnawal people and pay respects to elders past and present. I would also like to thank...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

National Press Club address

(check against delivery) I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. I do so not as a formulaic beginning, but as a sincere recognition of the place which the land holds in the lives and culture of our first Australians. I saw much of the disadvantage Aboriginal people experience during my...

Category, Speech
Children's Rights

Marist Youth Care

While I believe most Australians wish for children in this country an equal chance at life - an opportunity to not just survive but to thrive - and to be free from violence, abuse and neglect, it is, perhaps, less understood or acknowledged that this opportunity is also the right of every Australian child.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

96th NSW Teachers Federation Annual Conference

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. Some of you may recall that I addressed your conference 2 years ago and 2 years before that I spoke at your Council meeting. Obviously, this shows the enormous respect and admiration that I have for all of you as educators. But I think it also shows just how crucial I think that teachers are to progressing our human rights and social justice agenda.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Alcohol reform requires balanced approach - Opinion Piece

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda, wrote in The Australian that the way to tackle alcohol abuse is to empower communities to make decisions about alcohol management that are reasonable, proportionate, and necessary.

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

The Forgotten Freedoms – Freedom of Religion

It is a great pleasure to deliver a Blackfriars Lecture. A few weeks ago I gave a speech to the Sydney Institute outlining the approach I plan to take to human rights as the Federal Commissioner titled ‘The Forgotten Freedoms’. In this speech I outlined that I have concerns about the key freedoms of expression, worship, association and property rights. Reasserting them will be the focus of my tenure as Human Rights Commissioner.

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Twitter trolls have a right to offend – but we don't have to listen

Storms on social media demonstrate we don't need laws to regulate free speech – social norms are enough Internet outrage tells us more about how we ensure civil conduct face-to-face, than how we behave online. People behave in strange ways online. But social media provides the clearest evidence of...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

This budget could devastate Indigenous Australians

From cuts to youth welfare to the new Medicare co-payment, the budget will have a profound impact on Indigenous Australians. In an opinion piece published in The Drum, Mick Gooda asks: will the Federal Government speak to Aboriginal leaders before proceeding? I have spoken with many Aboriginal and...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Opening minds to ‘forgotten freedoms’

Opinion by Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson. First published in The Australian on 17 May 2014. Reform is not the end of debating free speech in Australia, it is the beginning The “forgotten freedoms” provide the foundations of our liberal democracy, and we have to reconnect with them. There are...

Category, Opinion

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