Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would also like to thank the Law Council of Australia and its Advisory Committee on Indigenous Legal Issues for inviting me to deliver this address, and to take part in the customary law panel discussion later today.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I am speaking on behalf of Dr William Jonas, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. Dr Jonas is unable to be here today, with doctors having advised him he is not able to fly at this time due to a recurring illness. Dr Jonas sends his apologies and has asked that I deliver this speech on his behalf. He has asked me to express to you his appreciation for attending today and to thank Parry Agius and Lowitja O'Donoghue for agreeing to speak at this launch.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Mick Dodson, the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner said in his First Report that "A decent standard of health and a life expectancy equivalent to others is an entitlement. Social justice is not primarily a matter of the relief of suffering. It is a matter of the fulfilment of a responsibility. To draw this distinction is not to deny that the facts by themselves speak out for a remedy. Nor is it to deny that compassion is a proper response. But compassion is an insufficient foundation for the delivery of rights".
Disability Rights
Over the past 10 years I have been involved in developing resources and providing informal assistance to organisations developing Action Plans throughout Australia. This has included assisting in the preparation of the initial guides to developing action plans produced in 1995 and the subsequent publication Developing an Effective Action Plan produced in 1999 both of which can be found on our website at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/action_plans/index.html
Disability Rights
Much of my mis-spent youth involved listening to rock bands. At that time the internet hardly existed, as opposed to the ubiquitous role it now plays in our lives. That's a shame for many reasons, one of them being that had it done so, I could have justified my time by contributing to www.kissthisguy.com . This is a site which lists what people thought were the words of rock songs, and then what they actually are.
Sex Discrimination
I would like to start by acknowledging that we are here today on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present. I have had the great honour of meeting many inspirational Indigenous women in my role – their energy, courage and determination leaves me in awe.
Rights and Freedoms
I'm very pleased to be speaking to you today. I'm especially encouraged that so many young people have put aside a weekend to think about, and talk about, human rights.
Rights and Freedoms
"....the fundamental conflict in the next millennium will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural"...
Rights and Freedoms
Families, and those who support them, play a vital role in the protection of human rights. Accordingly, I am very pleased to address this conference, and I commend all of you for your work in preserving and strengthening families.
Commission – General
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Commission – General
I am very grateful for the opportunity to address you today and express my admiration to you all for taking on the very necessary venture of providing practical legal assistance to some of the most powerless and marginalised people in society.
Commission – General
Torture and various forms of terrorism have been practiced throughout history, though never on the scale we are now confronted with. The first visual records of police interrogation were discovered in a four thousand year old tomb in ancient Egypt. Since the pharaohs there have been many refinements in methods of inducing physical pain and gathering intelligence, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition, but more recently in the modern totalitarian state.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I begin by paying my respects to the Ngunnawal peoples, the traditional owners of this land. I pay my respects to your elders, past, present and future.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would like to begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Traditional Owners, the Wurundjeri people, and to pay my respect to their elders.
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