In defence of human rights
I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional country of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional country of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
The theme of this Conference - Human Rights and Equality for Women in the 21st Century - is rich fare for any time of the day. It calls for speculation about the future and assessment of the past; it invites fresh perspectives and challenges the imagination; it asks for re-examination of motives and goals.
I would like to begin this evening by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Let me join those who have spoken before me in acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present, and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders we have with us tonight.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
International Human Rights Day falls on 10th December each year. It marks the occasion on 10th December 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In just one week the nations of the world will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is an historic occasion. The last 50 years has seen significant progress in the recognition and protection of human rights, both at an international level and within the borders of sovereign states.
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and to pay my respects to their elders both past and present.
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal peoples, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.
I am honoured to have been invited today to open this conference. I have a surname and ancestors with German origins, and I am the Chancellor of this august institution. I guess this explains the invitation, but I have to confess that I feel a bit of an outsider here amongst a distinguished audience steeped in knowledge about the topic of the Conference.
I am very grateful for this opportunity to address this speech night. 1998 is an historic year. Not only does it mark the 130th anniversary of Brisbane Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Brisbane, it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are both significant anniversaries and they are tied together by the importance they place on the role of education to inform, instruct and inspire.
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001, Governments around the world have created a raft of new counter-terrorism laws. In Australia alone, over 40 new laws have created new criminal offences, new detention and questioning powers for police and security apparatus, new powers for the Attorney-General to proscribe terrorist organisations, new ways to control people’s movement and activities without criminal convictions, and new investigative powers for police and security agencies.
We meet today on the lands of the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation. On behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission I pay my respect to their elders past and present.
A little over a month ago, I started as the new President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, ending my time as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.
In the second century AD, Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, thanked one of his brothers for teaching him to value "the conception of the state with one law for all, based upon individual equality and freedom of speech, and of a sovereignty which prizes above all things the liberty of the subject."1