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I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. It's almost 18 months since we launched the Same-Sex: Same Entitlements National Inquiry. In that time, we have travelled around Australia to hear, first hand, about the impact of discriminatory laws on same-sex couples, and their children. We received 680 written submissions from across Australia and met with more than 500 people. The Inquiry put federal laws under the human rights microscope.

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

Scarlett Finney was only six when she saw the brochures for the Hills Grammar School, set in park-like grounds in Sydney's outer suburbs. She indicated her keenness to attend "the school in the bush". Her parents were prepared to pay the fees, and saw the setting and curriculum as providing her with a great education. But the school refused her enrolment due to the fact that she had spina bifida, and sometimes used a wheelchair [1].

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

The promotion of human rights and education go hand in hand. At the international level human rights education is an essential function of the work of the UN and its many agencies. And it is fundamental to the work of a National Human Rights Commission.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present. I make this statement at any function where I speak in order to:

I would like to welcome everybody to the launch of Rights of Passage: A Dialogue with Young Australians about Human Rights. I thank you all for coming.

Many of you here would have read Tony Stephen’s SMH article ‘Stand up for your rights stuff’ of Saturday 8 October, where he gave an account of the launch by New Matilda of a campaign to install a Bill of Rights in Australia.

I would like to commence my brief remarks tonight by acknowledging the success of the member organizations of ACFID. Clearly any organization whose constituent members in 2004 raised $487.4 million, or around 70%, annually of their funds, from the public with only about 14% coming from the government via AusAID is a very effective one indeed. This statistic is also vitally important when one considers the ramifications of how best to engage in constructive policy dialogue with federal governments of any political persuasion.

Mr. Neil Brown QC, Mr. Michael Shand QC, members of the Victoria Bar and of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, all.

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

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

Firstly, HREOC is charged with: "promoting an understanding and acceptance of human rights in Australia". Young people obviously form a very, very important part of that task.

I would like to open today by reading you part of an e-mail that a work colleague of mine received recently from a young Australian woman in her early twenties, who recently completed her Bachelor of Communications degree from UTS in Sydney. As it happens she also holds Polish citizenship and is currently visiting her grandparents in Warsaw.

I should add, at this point, that my work over the past few years and my inquiry on children in immigration detention (CIDI), in Australia, the report of which "A last resort?" was tabled in the Australian Federal parliament in May of 2004, has made me even more keenly aware of the fragility of child asylum seekers. But more on that later!

Firstly I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand and by so doing remind ourselves that Australia's cultural traditions stretch back many thousands of years. The acknowledgement also expresses our aspiration for a just and inclusive Australia for all.

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.

I accept with gratitude the honorary doctorate bestowed upon me by the RMIT University - a great University established in 1881 to serve Melbourne's "working men".

In so doing however I am confronted with the classic dilemma of many, namely what fresh insight can I bring to bear on this subject that has not already been canvassed.