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To those of you who have been following this Inquiry closely, it may be unclear as to why this hearing is taking place as I had said in December 2002 that those would be the last of the Inquiry's hearings. I will therefore briefly set out the history and methodology of the Inquiry to this point which will take us to why we are here today. I will then set out what steps remain to be completed…

Dear Attorney Pursuant to section 31(b)(ii) of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth) I attach a report of my inquiry into a complaint by Mr Frank Ottaviano of discrimination in employment on the basis of criminal record by the State of South Australia (South Australia Police). I have found that the act and practice complained of constitutes discrimination in employment…

Discover how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls face barriers when accessing education and employment and how this is being addressed.

The High Court's decisions in Yarmirr [1], Miriuwung Gajerrong [2], Wilson v Anderson [3] and Yorta Yorta [4] clarify the law with respect to the recognition and extinguishment of native title. The consequences of the law of native title for Indigenous people are now starkly apparent. It is thus timely that the 2002 Native Title Report evaluates these principles against the human rights standards…

The prohibition on discrimination in employment is a relatively recent, but now well-established, feature of the Australian legal environment. Laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace in Australia date back to 1966 when South Australia introduced the Prohibition of Discrimination Act 1966 (SA), to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race in aspects of employment and in the provision…

Thanks to Chris Law, Daryle Gardiner-Bonneau, Ash Donaldson, David Hobbs, Lloyd Walker, Jane Bringolf, Luisa Ferronato, Margaret Brown, Tony Starkey, Greg Killeen, James Tobias, Jane Berliss-Vincent, James Mueller, Judith Dixon, Jason White, Robert Pedlow, Amanda Tink and Vivien Palcic.

Over the past year, there has been significant concern expressed about petrol sniffing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities at the national level. The phenomenon of petrol-sniffing is, however, not well-understood and there is no reliable national data on the number of people involved and the extent of resulting damage to individuals and communities.

This report is about two distinct subject matters. The first of these is the welcome move by the Australian Government to transfer increasing numbers of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons into community arrangements. The second is the situation of people who remain in immigration detention facilities with little or no prospect of being released.[1]

During these ten years, thousands of individuals and organisations have used the DDA to create change, either by making complaints of discrimination, using the law as a basis for negotiating broad social change or educating organisations on their responsibilities.

Mr Tom Calma Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), Parliament House, Canberra, 8 April 2005