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I am very grateful for this opportunity to address this speech night. 1998 is an historic year. Not only does it mark the 130th anniversary of Brisbane Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Brisbane, it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are both significant anniversaries and they are tied together by the importance they place on the role of education to inform, instruct and inspire.

I begin by paying my respects to the Kaurna peoples,  the traditional owners of the land where we gather today, I pay my respects to your elders,  to the ancestors and to those who have come before us, And thank you,   for your generous welcome to country for all of us.

When I first entered the law 'benchbooks' were closely guarded, leather bound books into which judges carefully entered notes as a case progressed - usually I thought adverse comments and exclamation marks about one's arguments or less than flattering remarks about one's principal witness. These books seemed to be some kind of secret code to the outcome of cases and never saw the light of day.

We are on Aboriginal land – and as a mark of respect to the traditional owners of this country – I want to recognise their culture and their law because they are integral to what we now call Coogee.

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

In the contemporary world, and particularly amongst developed economies, many of us believed that 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. Indeed, I believe that many of us had come to accept and expect this to be the situation, and that conferences like the one we attend here today could be built on this very premise.

Most of you here today would know that it is not trite to say that local government is the closest level of government to our communities, and as such plays a key role in building and reinforcing the fabric of those communities.

Acknowledgements and Intro [Introduction in Bunuba] Yaningi warangira ngindaji yuwa muwayi ingirranggu, Yagara a yani u. Balangarri wadjirragali jarra ningi – gamali ngindaji yau muwayi nyirrami yarrangi thangani. Yaningi miya ngindaji Muwayi ingga winyira ngarragi thangani. Yathawarra, wilalawarra jalangurru ngarri guda. J Ngindaji ngay walyayi thangani u nyana thangani u + mindija I stand here ...

Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal peoples, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Although the first Human Rights Commission was established by federal legislation in 1981, ICESCR was not added to its mandate (unlike the ICCPR). The omission was repeated when the new (current) Commission was established in 1986.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today amongst those of you who aspire to promote equality and social justice.

Amongst all this expertise, it is fair to ask why is the President of the national human rights commission – and particularly a President who has only fairly recently commenced in this role - here presenting the keynote speech to such a conference?