Commission – General
Ladies and Gentlemen I am very pleased to be at the Catholic Independent Schools Employment Relations Committee Conference. Occasions such as this one allow me, as President of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, to share with a very influential group my thoughts about how we can all better manage the complexity and diversity of today’s working environments.
Commission – General
It is a great pleasure to be speaking today with Judge Clifford Wallace. I had the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions at Judges' conferences in the Pacific. I was very sorry to miss him when he was in Adelaide in 2003.
Rights and Freedoms
In keeping with the focus of this agenda item on effective functioning of human rights mechanisms and national institutions I propose at the outset to briefly list some of the key areas with which the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has been involved over the past year. A more detailed account of those activities will be circulated. So here is an overview:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Statement from Katie Kiss at the 17th EMRIP session, focusing on Indigenous rights and participation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on tonight. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I speak as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and National Race Discrimination Commissioner of Australia. I am a member of Australia’s national human rights institution.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would also like to thank the conference organisers for two things: – firstly for inviting me to present today, and secondly, for developing a conference on such a critical but very marginalised theme on the national stage – Indigenous policy development – and how we can all do it better.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee. I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on Gadigal land, and pay my respects to the Gadigal people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
In championing the cause of universality (of human rights) I should emphasise that universality does not negate cultural diversity; on the contrary, I believe that it reinforces and protects cultural diversity.
Disability Rights
I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, in whose language Canberra means meeting place as you probably know.
Disability Rights
I am sure I am not the first person to say it, but it seems to me that there are particularly important reasons for a telecommunications company such as Telstra to be interested in diversity.
Sex Discrimination
In April last year, I was asked by the Minister for Defence to conduct an independent Review into the Treatment of Women - both in the Australian Defence Force Academy, or ADFA, and in the broader Australian Defence Force - on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Rights and Freedoms
I’d also thank the Human Rights Week Organising Committee here in Tasmania, and congratulate them on their 20th Anniversary. Human Rights Week has been successfully and continuously marked with a number of events each year over the past 20 years in Tasmania. And that in itself, is a remarkable achievement.
Rights and Freedoms
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand, the Eora People, and pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present, and by so doing:
Rights and Freedoms
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'.
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