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Ten years ago I gave the occasional address at a graduation at Sydney University. I accepted the invitation to speak in the Great Hall and then informed the University that - as the platform on which students received their degrees was not accessible for people with mobility disability - I would speak from the floor of the hall. I did that, and told the story of Bradley Kinsella. He had studied at QUT for three years about a further decade ago, and used his wheelchair all of that time. Despite their knowledge of his disability, QUT scheduled his degree in an inaccessible venue.

In keeping with the theme of today's awards, I want to welcome you all here to celebrate our local champions, many of whom are with us as nominees for the 2004 Human Rights Medal and Human Rights Awards.

I am delighted to have been invited to speak to you tonight on the Eve of International Women's Day, as so many of you are at the eve of being women yourselves, whether international or not. I can tell you, from my own experience, that being a woman kind of creeps up on you: one minute you're a girl, or an adolescent (whatever that may really be), and the next you are a woman!

I would like to begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Traditional Owners, the Wurundjeri people, and to pay my respect to their elders.

The Annual Mitchell Oration is held as a tribute to Dame Roma’s lifelong efforts to improve the respect in Australia for human rights, and to counter discrimination experienced by many people, especially women, members of Indigenous communities, and of ethnic minorities.

When I was invited to give this address, my first thought was to talk about unlawful discrimination in the context of higher education and, in particular, disability discrimination.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Larrakia peoples. I pay my respects to their elders both past and present.

Set against the wreckage and the unthinkable horror of the Second World War, the Declaration was something of a phoenix rising from the ashes, a document which sought to rekindle a human dignity which had been gravely debased in the preceding ten years.

The Crisis of Masculinity –is there the need for a men’s movement? Speech delivered by Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, as part of the Oz Prospects Lecture Series, State Library of Victoria, 20 April, 2004. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the honour of being invited to speak to you tonight about the crisis of masculinity and the need for a men’s ...

We would like to begin by emphasising the limited role of discrimination law - that is, we agree to some extent with comments by ACCI that equality cannot be achieved solely by providing stronger antidiscrimination legal provisions.