Skip to main content

Disability Discrimination

Rosemary Kayess commences as Disability Discrimination Commissioner

Content type: Media Release
Published:

Australia’s new Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Rosemary Kayess, said we need to reframe how Australians think about disability, and address social structures that prevent people with disability from participating equally in society. 

Australia's human rights progress

Video Options:

Australia is widely considered the land of the "fair go".

And while that may ring true for many people, not all in our country are yet afforded the dignity and basic rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

As the final episode in our series commemorating the Declaration’s 75th anniversary explores, its promise in Australia remains a “work in progress”.

Learn more about our series here.

What does 'human rights' mean to you?

Video Options:

10 December 2023 marked 75 years since the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In this first of a 5-part video series commemorating the anniversary from a local perspective, we hear from a diverse group of Australians about what human rights means to them.  

The Commission acknowledges this series comes at a time of major global crises. It is in the pursuit of peace, justice, and equality that we discover our common ground.

Now, more than ever, it’s time to promote and protect human rights.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 75 Years On Video Series

Video Options:

In a video series commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we hear from a diverse group of Australians about what human rights means to them and where our nation still needs to improve.

View the rest of the series here.

Australia Post Services Modernisation

The Australian Human Rights Commission provided this submission to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the Department) regarding the modernisation of Australian postal services. 

The Commission did this in response to the ‘Postal Services Modernisation: Discussion Paper’. 

Australia’s human rights champions put social justice and equality centre stage

Content type: Media Release
Published:

Women’s equity and racial equality advocate Juliana Nkrumah AM has been awarded the prestigious Human Rights Medal at the 2023 Australian Human Rights Awards in Sydney tonight.

Other awards went to Gabriel Osborne (Young People’s Award), Northern Pictures (Media and Creative Industries Award), Advocacy Tasmania (Community Award) and the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (Law Award).

Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Rosemary Kayess

Tuesday 28 November, 2023

Rosemary Kayess

Disability Discrimination Commissioner, commenced 29 January 2024

Commission welcomes ‘historic and transformative’ Disability Royal Commission report

Content type: Media Release
Published:

Read our media release welcoming the release of the final report from the Disability Royal Commission, noting the huge significance the report’s contents will have for people with disability and their loved ones for decades to come.

Commissioners ‘appalled’ following Four Corners episode on abusive disability ‘therapy’

Content type: Media Release
Published:

Two of Australia’s human rights leaders have expressed grave concerns in the wake of shocking videos broadcast on ABC’s Four Corners program, which showed children with intellectual disabilities being repeatedly restrained as part of a radical treatment funded by the NDIS. 

 

The episode highlighted the controversial and abusive practices at Irabina Autism Services in Melbourne, between 2019-2021.