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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and National Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna People, the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

I am delighted to be invited to speak today at the Biennial Conference of the Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies, in association with partner organisations dedicated to the wellbeing of children.

Every suicide of a young person is not an isolated, individualised event. Certainly it robs the young person of his or her promised future. But it also traumatises the family, the friends, the school or workmates and, especially in a rural or remote community, the entire community. Every suicide of a young person speaks volumes of weeks, months, even years of confusion, alienation, hopelessness…

Anglicare, Tasmania Annual Social Justice Lecture 22 August, 2007 TOM CALMA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner National Race Discrimination Commissioner Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Thank you, Megan McNichol, conference organisers and the Isolated Children's Parents' Association for inviting me to speak at your annual federal conference today.

I begin today by paying my respects to the Ngunnawal peoples and their elders, whose land we meet on today. I acknowledge their graciousness in sharing their lands and their culture with all those who live and visit here.

When I first entered the law 'benchbooks' were closely guarded, leather bound books into which judges carefully entered notes as a case progressed - usually I thought adverse comments and exclamation marks about one's arguments or less than flattering remarks about one's principal witness. These books seemed to be some kind of secret code to the outcome of cases and never saw the light of day.

I would like to open today by reading you part of an e-mail that a work colleague of mine received recently from a young Australian woman in her early twenties, who recently completed her Bachelor of Communications degree from UTS in Sydney. As it happens she also holds Polish citizenship and is currently visiting her grandparents in Warsaw.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with all of you, and sleep with some of you. As you will have noticed, Vinnies was good enough to let my eleven-year-old daughter Rachel join me as my guide tonight, and she'll be the only one getting any of my cuddles. The rest of you have to make your own arrangements.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, the Eora People, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present.