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This year marked the end of my nationwide Listening Tour and the beginning of what has been a busy but rewarding time in my term as Commissioner. I am delighted to report that it has been an exciting year for progressing gender and age equality in Australia. The Listening Tour played an important role in setting the agenda for my term. In deciding where the Commission should focus its efforts, I…

The customer centricity movement is big business. So much so that the Harvard Business Review devoted two recent editions to answering these headline question: 'What does your customer really want?’ (2016) and ‘How to win and keep customers’ (2017). The esteemed authors wrote about pricing, product/service quality, data, innovation, habits, prototyping and storytelling. Each of these is…

Explore recommendations on ADFAS structure and staffing.

Insights on temporary protection visas discussed in the "Last Resort" report.

The general opinion of station people is that it is a mistake to take these children out of the bush. They say that the aboriginal mothers are fond of their children and in their own way look after them and provide for them and that when they grow up they are more easily absorbed and employed than those who have been taken out of their natural environment and removed to towns.

One is irresistibly reminded of the likening of bureaucratic activity to  the sex life of elephants: much trumpeting, a lot of activity at high level  and no outcome for three years.

Our aim is to make this a reality. To that end we strive to build understanding in the Australian community about what human rights are and their relevance for everyday life. We have made good progress on our journey, but we know we have more work to do.

We must face up to our humanitarian responsibilities to accept refugee children and their families. We must take them out of the immigration detention centres and welcome them into the community where they can play, learn and grow. At least then when our children look back on this time and ask us what we did to stand up for refugee kids, we can say we gave them their childhood." (Calvert,…

The following notes are a brief summary of the observations made by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s (HREOC) President, Human Rights Commissioner and staff.  HREOC emphasises that these summary notes and recommendations are based solely on what we personally observed and heard from staff and detainees during our visits.

The term of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Halliday, expired on 26 April 2001 and the federal Attorney - General, the Hon. Daryl Williams, AM, QC, MP announced the appointment of Ms Pru Goward as Sex Discrimination Commissioner for a five-year term on 29 June 2001. Ms Goward commenced her appointment on 30 July 2001. In the interim, the President acted as Sex Discrimination…

Over the past 21 years HREOC has helped to highlight, investigate and respond to a wide range of complex human rights issues in Australia. During this time there have been many positive changes. It is clear, however, that gaping holes still exist.

The colony of Moreton Bay was established as a penal outpost of New South Wales in 1825. Extreme violence accompanied the rapid expansion of European settlers, particularly in the north. This violence and the spread of introduced diseases resulted in a rapid decrease in the Indigenous population. Kidnapping Indigenous women and children for economic and sexual exploitation was common.

This submission aims to highlight a number of issues for children in immigration detention arising from the Department of Human Services' (DHS) involvement in child protection, health service provision to children and their families, settlement support and care of unattached minors.