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3.1 Introduction In chapters 1 and 2, I look back over the past 20 years that the Social Justice Commissioner position has been in place and think about the journey and our learning over this time. In this chapter, I want to explore how those lessons can take us forward to chart a confident course into the future and how the realisation of our rights can produce long term sustainable…

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,…

4.1 Nationalities of the children in detention 4.2 Reasons for seeking asylum 4.3 Age of children in detention 4.4 Unaccompanied children 4.5 When did the children arrive in Australia? 4.6 How long are children kept in detention? 4.7 Movement of children across the detention network 4.8 Mental health and wellbeing of children in detention 4.9 Detention is a dangerous place 4.10 Rates of self…

Everyone has a fundamental right to feel safe from all forms of violence, in all parts of their lives. Each year, however, too many Australians encounter violence, harassment and bullying because of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation or age. Addressing these forms of violence is the second of the Commission’s two priority areas of work.

back to contents Chapter 5: Addressing family violence in Indigenous communities There is no issue currently causing more destruction to the fabric of Indigenous communities than family violence. This has been acknowledged by all levels of government in recent years, with a number of significant inquiries and initiatives undertaken or commenced at the federal, state and territory level to address…

The Commission is a national independent statutory body established under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986. It has a President and five Commissioners. The five positions are currently held by three persons.

As a result of the enactment of the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 1999 (Cth) the jurisdiction of the Commission to conduct public inquiries into complaints was transferred on 13 April 2000 to the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Service. However, the Commission retained the jurisdiction to complete those public inquiries it had commenced prior to 13 April 2000. During 2000&…