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Commission - General
International Human Rights Day address - 2005
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.
Commission - General
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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.
Commission - General
Submission: Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework – supplementary to submission 1
The purpose of this submission is to provide further information to complement the Commission’s first submission. In proposing key elements required to ensure that a future National Human Rights Framework is robust and achieves outcomes that improve the protection of human rights in Australia, this...
Commission - General
President speech: Human Rights, Refugees and Asylum Seekers
I would like to begin this morning by 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.
Commission - General
President speech: ‘How could a Human Rights Act lead to better Government?’
Discover a speech on the Human Rights Act and better governance.
Commission - General
The German Presence in South Australia
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.
Commission - General
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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.
Commission - General
A national approach to child rights
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.
Commission - General
President Speech: 2010 Human Rights Day Oration
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.
Commission - General
Address to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Annual Conference
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.
Commission - General
Equality before the law
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
Commission - General
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To be honest, this is a rare occasion for me. Much of my career has been spent in the monastic cells of academic institutions teaching the young about different legal systems; their origins and growth, their strengths and weaknesses. Your world - the world of business and industry, finances, profit and loss, sales and marketing - is largely foreign to me in a practical sense.
Commission - General
INCORPORATING HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES INTO NATIONAL SECURITY MEASURES
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.
Commission - General
President Speech: What does it mean to believe in human rights in Australia today?
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of this land, the Pambalong clan of the Awabakal people, and pay my respect to their elders, past and present. Today I would like to explore the question: ‘What does it mean to believe in human rights in Australia today?’ This is an ambitious project, and I am aware that the question does not have a short and simple answer.