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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.

Pursuant to s 31(b)(ii) of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth), I attach my report of an inquiry into the complaint made by Mr Norman Campbell of discrimination in employment on the basis of criminal record by Black & White Cabs Pty Ltd and Mr John Tighe.

In all cases, States should engage in ‘[a] good faith effort towards consensual decision-making’.[2] Consultation processes should therefore be framed ‘in order to make every effort to build consensus on the part of all concerned’.[3]

International and Australian evidence demonstrates the long-term effects of early life experience on health and well being throughout life. The detention of children and young people is poses significant risks to normal development. The exposure of infants and young children to stress either directly or mediated through the experiences of their parents reduces the likelihood of normal brain development.

The primary responsibilities of the Legal Section are to assist the President or their delegate in the preparation of notices and reports under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth); to act as counsel or instructing solicitor for the Commission in interventions and amicus curiae matters; to assist the Commission in work arising from legislation or bills raising human rights issues and to monitor and promote awareness of developments in international and domestic human rights law, including discrimination jurisprudence in the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Cour

Note:This paper was issued by the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department. It is reproduced here on the Commission's World Wide Web site for the convenience of users. This paper is issued as received by the Commission on 15 October 1996.

According to the United Nations Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (also called the Refugee Convention), a refugee is someone who is outside their own country and cannot return due to a well-founded fear of persecution because of their: