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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice14 December 2012Speech
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I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners, [the Gum-bay-ngg-irr people] whose land we are meeting on and thank them for welcoming us to their country. I congratulate AIATSIS and NSW Native Title Services on organising this conference and thank everyone gathered here for your efforts to make this a successful conference. I am honoured to be invited to address you today. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Appendix 8
2. The obligation to respect and to ensure respect for human rights and humanitarian law includes the duty: to prevent violations, to investigate violations, to take appropriate action against the violators, and to afford remedies and reparation to victims. Particular attention must be paid to the prevention of gross violations of human rights and to the duty to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crimes under international law. -
Disability Rights14 December 2012Speech
Human rights for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia: where to from here?
I will not speak in detail about human rights conventions and disability because this topic is addressed by my co-speaker in this session, Karl Lachwitz. I will say though that international human rights law and human rights debate has not yet acknowledged adequately or sufficiently clearly that people with a disability are part of what the "human" in human rights means. Equally, there has not always been enough attention to human rights dimensions in disability discourse. -
Commission – General14 December 2012Speech
President speech: How human rights can promote the wellbeing of children in Australia
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present. -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice14 December 2012Speech
Opening remarks: National Indigenous Health Equality Summit-Tom Calma
I would like to begin by acknowledging all of the Ngunnawal peoples - the traditional owners of the land where we are meeting over the coming days. I pay my respects to your elders and to the ancestors. -
Rights and Freedoms31 October 2013Speech
Freedom of Speech and giving offence: can a balance be struck?
Annual Kirby Lecture on International law: ANZSIL 2013 Thursday 4 July 2013 6:30 pm Finkel Theatre, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Garran Rd, Australian National University (Check against delivery) Freedom of Speech and giving offence: can a balance be struck? I was especially pleased to be invited to give this address as, throughout my career, I have been enriched by Michael Kirby’s ... -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice14 December 2012Speech
Diabetes in Indigenous Communities
May I also congratulate the organisers for convening this important Forum. We know that rates of diabetes among indigenous peoples across the globe, and in Australia, are extremely high and require specific, focused attention. And we also know that we need action urgently. -
14 December 2012Book page
Native Title Report 2010:Chapter 2: ‘The basis for a strengthened partnership’: Reforms related to agreement-making
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, agreement-making can be an expression of free, prior and informed consent and the beginning of cooperative relationships with governments and other parties. -
14 December 2012Book page
Monitoring and reporting on laws and policy - Annual Report 2009-2010: Australian Human Rights Commission
In June 2011, the Commission welcomed action taken by the Australian Government to move a significant number of families and unaccompanied children from immigration detention facilities to community-based detention. -
14 December 2012Book page
Native Title Report 2001: Chapter Three: Negotiating co-existence through framework agreements
A stable and enduring basis for a dynamic and long term relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people over land is emerging through negotiation and agreement-making. Native title agreements are increasingly seen as an important tool in defining the rights of native title holders over their land. But here, as in other aspects of native title, there is concern that there are currently no mechanisms to safeguard human rights principles. Substantive, just and equitable outcomes are only achieved if there are minimum standards in place to recognize and protect these principles. -
Rights and Freedoms14 December 2012Speech
Human Rights in Contemporary Australia: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2001)
Despite its rather grand title, this presentation will be a relatively modest attempt to set out the key challenges for human rights in Australia as I see them at the outset of my term as Human Rights Commissioner. Let us begin with a quick survey of the state of human rights internationally and in Australia today. -
14 December 2012Book page
HREOC Annual Report 2003-2004 : Appendices
The International Labour Organisation Convention 111 deals with discrimination in employment and occupation. Australian adherence to this Convention provides that all people have the right to equal treatment in employment and occupation without discrimination on the basis of: -
14 December 2012Book page
Native Title Report 2010: Appendix 2: Native Title Report 2009: Recommendations
[1] T Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Native Title Report 2009, Australian Human Rights Commission (2009), p xv. At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/nt_report/ntreport09/index.html (viewed 19 November 2010). -
Commission – General14 December 2012Speech
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I was invited to pick my own topic for discussion. As an ex-judge being invited to speak to students of the law, I assumed that I was expected to speak on something related to the administration of the law from a judge's perspective. And as President of Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), I assumed I was expected to mention the role of human rights promotion in our legal system. -
14 December 2012Book page
Bringing them Home - Chapter 9
In 1863 the area now known as the Northern Territory came under the control of South Australia. By 1903 the whole area was leased to non-Indigenous people. As there were few non-Indigenous women, relationships between the Indigenous women and non-Indigenous men were relatively common. The consequence was a growing population of children of mixed descent who were usually cared for by their mothers within the Aboriginal community. -
Commission – General14 December 2012Speech
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Human rights are said to be universal and indivisible. This paper explores how far that universality introduces human rights principles into the functions and work of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The answer, I think, could be “further than you realise”. -
14 December 2012Book page
Native Title Report 2008: Overview
After 11 years of conservative rule under the Howard Government, that saw Indigenous peoples’ native title rights and interests severely degraded under the Wik 10 Point Plan, the election of the Labor Government raised an opportunity to renew the relationship between the State and Australia’s Indigenous peoples. -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice14 December 2012Speech
Indigenous Peoples Permanent Sovereignty Over Natural Resources
Furthermore, I would like to thank Professor Mick Dodson and Mr. Parry Agius for the invitation addressed to me to deliver this lecture within the framework of the National Title Conference. In particular, I express my warmest thanks to the Acting Chairperson of the Conference Mr. Parry Agius for his very kind words about my humble work in the field of the protection of the rights of the world's Indigenous Peoples and my background. -
14 December 2012Book page
Woman of the World - What are Human Rights?
Human rights define the value and worth of each person and their relationship to society. They identify standards regarding the quality of life that each of us can expect to enjoy. -
14 December 2012Book page
Commission Website: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that flow from his [sic] dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognised by it. They are the basis of the moral legitimacy of every authority; by flouting them, or refusing to recognise them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral legitimacy … Catechism of the Catholic Church, n 1930