Search results

3. I was employed by what is now the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) for 37 years. I started with the Department after leaving school and was employed with them until January 2002 when I resigned.

According to National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) as of 5 February 2002 there were 16 children with disabilities such as vision impairment, acute dwarfism, trauma, Perthes disease, cardiac, asthmatic and genetic disabilities residing in detention centres (Port Hedland and Woomera). This number does not include any of the detained refugees on the Pacific Islands like Nairu, Christmas Islands and other Australian detention centres in third countries.

The Commission would like to thank the children and young people who participated in the project and demonstrated great courage in allowing us to hear and tell their often painful and traumatic stories, in a hope that things would change for the better.

The International Labour Organisation Convention 111 deals with discrimination in employment and occupation. Australian adherence to this Convention provides that all people have the right to equal treatment in employment and occupation without discrimination on the basis of:

This report covers my final year as the Race Discrimination Commissioner, a position I have occupied for five years alongside my position as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

The Commonwealth has some statutory obligations to set standards: eg, under the Quarantine Act 1908 (see below), and the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 (to provide a national framework for the regulation of therapeutic goods in Australia and ensure their quality, safety and efficacy).

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) welcomes the release of the 2008 Immigration Detention Report by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and acknowledges the important independent scrutiny of the immigration system provided by the AHRC.

The Commission’s vision is of and for an Australian society in which the human rights of all people are respected and promoted. Our task is to find practical, pragmatic ways to turn the rhetoric of human rights into an everyday reality for all Australians and build a more tolerant and inclusive community. As this report indicates, this past year has been a period of substantial achievement as we strive towards this goal.

Over the past year increasing trends of prejudice and harassment of particular groups in our community has continued to be an area of significant concern for me. As noted in the 2002-03 annual report, I launched the Isma project in March 2003 in response to increasing concerns expressed by Arab and Muslim organisations about the rise in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice in Australia.

In the contemporary world, especially amongst first world economies, the culture of civil liberties, freedoms and non-discrimination are reasonably well established and these precepts have clear links to innovation, creativity and the broader concepts of economic productivity and a well-functioning civil society.

The 2000 Social Justice Report is the second by Dr Jonas. It tabled in both houses of the federal Parliament on 28 March 2001. The theme of the report is reconciliation and human rights.

The Commission is an 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. Please refer to the organisational chart on page 16 for further information.

Human rights are our entitlements to have our dignity and worth as human beings recognised. We all have them, we all want them recognised in our friends and families, and we all have responsibilities to recognise them in others.

As part of the Ismaع project, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (the Commission) investigated existing initiatives that address anti-Arab or anti-Muslim prejudice at a local, state and federal level across Australia. We conducted research and requested information about current initiatives from seven federal government agencies, 37 state and territory government agencies (including education and police authorities), 83 local governments (mostly in areas with substantial Arab or Muslim populations) and 14 non-government and community organisations.

This Office issued a formal report on Immigration Detention Centres in March 2001 which contained a number of recommendations to DIMIA for improvements in arrangements for children. The investigation was conducted following complaints and a number of reported incidents including escapes and allegations of assault on detainees. It revealed evidence at every immigration detention facility of self-harm, damage to property, fights and assaults which suggested that there were systemic deficiencies in the management of detainees, including women and children.