Sex Discrimination

Speeches on Sex Discrimination Issues

Access Speeches on Sex Discrimination Issues Sex Discrimination by the Commission’s Commissioners from between the years 1996 to 2012.

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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today and to pay my respects to their elders. I would also like to thank the University of NSW and Professor Daniel Tarantola for organising this event, and the Chair; and to acknowledge my eminent fellow speakers – Sofia Gruskin, Paul Hunt, Justice Michael Kirby and Daniel Tarantola again. It’s an honour to be speaking with such a distinguished group.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Collaborative Indigenous Policy Development Conference (2006)

There are many influences on government when it comes to Indigenous policy creation. Many have contrasting opinions, some are for pecuniary or self interest, some because they feel Indigenous people get too much, others because it is a power trip, others because of an academic interest and for others because they want to see an improvement in the quality of life of Indigenous people. This speech considers:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

LAUNCH - SOCIAL JUSTICE AND NATIVE TITLE REPORTS 2001

I'd like to welcome the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to Arrernte country. In particular, I welcome Dr William Jonas, the Social Justice Commissioner. We are here this afternoon to launch the Social Justice and Native Title Report 2001.

Disability Rights

“Access to the arts: Being Discriminating rather than Discriminatory"

Take a piece of canvas, some chicken wire, paint and plastic, and put them together so that they resemble a potato cooked in its jacket. Mount the whole thing on a block of wood, add a label that says "baked potato with butter" and what have you got? You've got a famous example of Pop Art. The collector who bought it is alleged to have remarked, "pop is the art of today, tomorrow and all the future". Human nature being what it is, I imagine they said much the same thing after they'd put the final touches to those prehistoric cave paintings.

Disability Rights

Launch of Bus Industry Confederation accessibility guidelines

Attorney-General Ruddock; Michael Apps and representatives of the bus and coach industry; Margo Hodge and representatives of the disability community; ladies and gentlemen.

Disability Rights

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Thank you Attorney General, and Minister Carr, and Parliamentary Secretary Shorten, for the invitation to participate in this launch of the Premises Standards. And thank you Ms Rein for your support of this important event. And its appropriate that the launch takes place in this building- one of the few in Australia with braille on its walls. Sadly, though, Qantas wouldn't let me bring my ladder on the plane, so I still haven't been able to read what it says. However, Google tells me that some quite subversive messages were put there.

Disability Rights

Education and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Des English Memorial Lecture

On 30 March 2007 I was waxing lyrical to my computer screen in Sydney. My words were not quite the same, but they had equal passion and determination. At 1.40 a.m. on that Saturday morning Sydney time, I was having a few glasses of wine and watching Australia line up with 80 other countries at the United Nations (UN) in New York, to sign that same Convention on the first day it was open for signature—via podcast to my computer screen. It was Friday New York time.

Disability Rights

10th Anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act

I'm sure that I'm not the only person with a disability who has experienced the lonely path of advocacy. As we find it necessary to advocate for our right to be able to read the same information as the rest of society, or to enter a building through the same door, or take a guide dog to the same restaurant, we can also find ourselves agreeing with the next line of the song, "two can be as bad as one".

Disability Rights

Initiatives to achieve better access to the built environment

As you know, the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act, and equivalent laws in all States, make it unlawful to discriminate on the ground of a person's disability. One of the areas covered by the Act is access to premises. The only exception to this is where a building is already constructed not providing access, and alteration to provide access would cause unjustifiable hardship.

Race Discrimination

Launch of Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century

I also acknowledge colleagues from government, and from non-government organisations, including from a wide range of churches and faith-based organisations. And particularly can I acknowledge colleagues from the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Hass Dellal and Athalia Zwartz, and Professors Gary Bouma and Des Cahill, as the authors of the report we are receiving and launching today.

Legal

Law Seminar 2007: Indigenous Stolen Wages Inquiry held by Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Senator Russell Trood

Speaking Notes for a seminar organised by Human Rights and Equal Rights Commission on the topic of Indigenous Stolen Wages Inquiry held by Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee by Senator Russell Trood Senator for Queensland 9 March 2007 Inquiry Initiated by Senator Bartlett, Democrat...

Rights and Freedoms

Response to Dr Alison Broinowski: Dr Sev Ozdowski, OAM (2005)

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.