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From the Free Speech Symposium

I’d also like to thank the Minerals Council of Australia for inviting me to speak today and I acknowledge all distinguished guests and participants. 

It is my pleasure to report to you today on the outcome of deliberations of the Working Group on Human Rights Education. This working group was relatively small in size but very diverse and robust in its deliberations. It consisted of representatives of Arabic countries, including the host country Qatar as well as Japan, the Philippines and Australia.

On March 30 this year Australia lined up with 80 other countries at the UN in New York to sign the Convention on the Rights or Persons with Disabilities

Allow me to begin by acknowledging the people of the Wurundjeri nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present.

I want to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered here on the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the Wurundjeri country, the land where we are meeting today, and thank Joy Murphy Wandin for her warm welcome to country. I pay my respects to your elders and to those who have come before us. I would also like to thank the Wunsyaluv dancers for the dances they have performed for us today.

I am here today partly because Michelle Castagna was quick off the mark in organising me to come before I had accepted any of the numerous other possibilities for events for the international day.

I also acknowledge ACROD Chief Executive Ken Baker; my fellow editorial advisory board members; Felicity Purdy, who I am delighted to see being recognised this evening with life membership; other distinguished guests, and all of you my fellow Australians.

RITA KUSEVSKIS-HAYES: Good morning, everybody. If I can ask everyone to take their seats.  Good morning, everybody. My name is Rita Kusevskis-Hayes, and I would like to welcome you on behalf of the 2011 Careers Forum Organising Committee to the University of New South Wales. 

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that we take for granted? When you're wandering through the breakfast cereal isle at the supermarket, for example, do you ever wonder whether Uncle Toby really was? If so, was he related to Sara Lee? Were Nana's apple pies originally made by Granny Smith? It's not so much that familiarity breeds contempt as that it lulls us into a state of mind where we no longer feel the need to question or even test our assumptions and presumptions.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders both past, present and future.

United Nations of Association of Australia National Conference Great Hall, University House Australian National University, Canberra 10 August 2013 9.40am Professor Gillian Triggs President, Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Download slides I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal People, the Traditional Owners of the land upon which we ...

On 16 December 1992, the General Assembly of the United Nations appealed to Governments around the world to observe 3 December of each year as International Day of people with disability. This is a day to celebrate abilities of people with disability all over the world. The aim of observing this day each year is also to increase awareness, and understanding, of disability issues and the gains to be derived from the integration of people with disability in every aspect of life. The nomination and celebration of this day is an important tool in promoting the rights of people with a disability.

The globalisation of the world economy, including much improved communication and transportation, has increased flows of people across borders.  This includes the movement of children, both with their family and unaccompanied.  Separated children crossing borders may be refugees, humanitarian asylum seekers, trafficked girls who will be forced to work as prostitutes, or simply children lost in the aftermath of war.  So today, children can literally travel across the world undetected and unprotected.  And Australia, as part of this global system, has its share of these children.

Thank you for the opportunity to meet today. I want to take a few minutes to run through some current areas of work which may be of particular interest to you.

Summary: Australia’s National Disability Strategy provides a framework for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons and for means for enhancing reporting under the Convention. Further development and implementation of the NDS should be informed by the Committee’s reporting guidelines and by the dialogue between the Australian Government and the Committee in considering Australia’s reports. Some enhancements to the reporting guidelines may also be helpful.