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Economic development can and does happen on Indigenous land, and when the preconditions are right, Indigenous Australians can and do achieve great things on the land, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today following the tabling of the Native Title Report 2006.

A community guide to the National Inquiry into Discrimination against People in Same-Sex Relationships: Financial and Work-Related Entitlements and Benefits

The poor health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is no secret – and something can be done about it. Since 2006, Australia’s peak Indigenous and non- Indigenous health bodies, NGOs and human rights organisations have worked together to secure the support of Australian governments for a human rights based approach to achieving health and life expectation equality for Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is known as the Close the Gap Campaign.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said that native title needs to move beyond the current legal framework towards achieving the economic and social development goals of Indigenous peoples.

This paper considers how the native title system might operate more effectively to assist traditional owner groups realise their goals for economic and social development. It relies on human rights principles to build a framework for economic and social development. This framework integrates ethical principles, such as equality and respect for Indigenous culture, with the economic and social factors that determine how well Indigenous people live in their communities.

In 1999, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's (HREOC) Report of the National Pregnancy and Work Inquiry, Pregnant and Productive, recognised the importance of paid maternity leave to Australian women and recommended that the Federal Government commission economic modelling to assess the viability and consequences of such a scheme. This interim options paper has been developed in order to consult, inform the debate and examine the options for paid maternity leave in Australia. The economic modelling to support this debate has not yet been done.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner, Tom Calma, argues in the Native Title Report 2005 that the Australian Government's proposal to encourage individual leases on Indigenous land will not necessarily lead to improved economic outcomes for Indigenous people.

We have also played an important leadership role internationally by sharing our experience with other national human rights institutions and by contributing technical assistance to advance partnerships for human rights in other countries.

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.