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This year marked the end of my nationwide Listening Tour and the beginning of what has been a busy but rewarding time in my term as Commissioner. I am delighted to report that it has been an exciting year for progressing gender and age equality in Australia. The Listening Tour played an important role in setting the agenda for my term. In deciding where the Commission should focus its efforts, I was guided by three questions that emerged from the Listening Tour

State and Territory legislation, programs and policies in the areas of child welfare, adoption and juvenile justice are intended to provide a non-discriminatory framework for the administration of services. In many cases, programs are designed with the objective of reducing the extent of contemporary removals of Indigenous children and young people. In spite of this, the over-representation of Indigenous children among children living separately from their families and communities, temporarily or permanently, remains high.

COMMISSIONER OZDOWSKI: Welcome to everyone. I would like to formally open this public hearing, the first of a series of hearings to be conducted around Australia. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner of Australia, and I have with me two Assistant Commissioners; to my right Professor Trang Thomas who is Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and to my left Dr Robin Sullivan who is Queensland Commissioner for Children. I also have two counsel assisting.

I'm a mother who has been out of the paid workforce for two years and will probably be for the next 4 years, until my children are ready for pre-school. My return to work will probably be on a part-time basis and I will probably have to re-start my career after so many years out so I don't expect that I will earn very much. I never thought this would be the case - I studied for many years, earned a higher degree, worked overseas and then started my family...I can't see how, after this time out of the workforce, my earnings will ever come close to my partner's.

Employment is fundamental to the lives of Australian families. For many individuals, work is their major activity outside the home, and ensures their family’s financial security.

This discussion paper briefly discusses federal laws which exclude same-sex couples from accessing financial and work-related entitlements. The paper discusses the following areas of federal law:

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, 2001).