ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Site navigation

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we meet and to pay my respects to the elders.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and Citizenship

It is the intention of this paper to explore the concept of citizenship, and some associated ideas in order to present a perspective on the relevance of citizenship to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I will seek to examine some key principles in relation to citizenship which must be established in order to ensure full and just respect for the rights and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Disability Rights

Presentation to the NSW Subcommittee of the Australian Braille Authority

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that we take for granted? When you're wandering through the breakfast cereal isle at the supermarket, for example, do you ever wonder whether Uncle Toby really was? If so, was he related to Sara Lee? Were Nana's apple pies originally made by Granny Smith? It's not so much that familiarity breeds contempt as that it lulls us into a state of mind where we no longer feel the need to question or even test our assumptions and presumptions.

Commission - General

Site navigation

Thank you Professor Lansbury, and thank you to Marian and the Women and Work Research Group for organising today’s forum. Thank you also to our panellists – Dr Lyn Craig, Petra Stirling, and John Murray.

Rights and Freedoms

Human rights issues for young refugees and asylum seekers

The globalisation of the world economy, including much improved communication and transportation, has increased flows of people across borders. This includes the movement of children, both with their family and unaccompanied. Separated children crossing borders may be refugees, humanitarian asylum seekers, trafficked girls who will be forced to work as prostitutes, or simply children lost in the aftermath of war. So today, children can literally travel across the world undetected and unprotected. And Australia, as part of this global system, has its share of these children.

Rights and Freedoms

Lawasia Conference

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.

Commission - General

President speeches: The influence of human rights on judicial decision-making

May I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.

Commission - General

Strategies to address discrimination to build a more inclusive country

Discover a speech on strategies to address discrimination.

Commission - General

Address to Tri-State Country Conference, Broken Hill

I also want to make mention of the fact that we are 130kn south west of an area of great significance to the Aboriginal communities of western NSW, which is now called Mutawintji National Park - the first park to be handed back to its Traditional Owners under the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act in 1998. [1] The caves and overhangs in the park have been transformed into expansive galleries of Aboriginal rock art, and it comes as no surprise that they have formed the backdrop for ceremonies for at least 8,000 years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

2009 Speech: NSW Teacher's Federation Conference

I begin by paying my respects to the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, 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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Australian Government Responses to the Bringing Them Home Report

I too would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and I pay my respects to their elders.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The Integration of Customary Law into the Australian legal system

Good afternoon, I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Noongar people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are gathered today, and pay my respects to their elders. I’d also like to acknowledge my distinguished fellow speakers. My presentation today is focused on customary law. I will refer to Aboriginal customary law, though the points that I will make are equally relevant to Torres Strait Islanders and to their distinct systems of law and governance.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Launch of Ros Kidd's 'Black lives, government lies' (2nd edition)

Dr Kidd has made an enormously valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of relations between Indigenous peoples in Queensland and government. Because of her commitment and tenacity in obtaining access to, and then exposing the contents of, government records about the administration of Indigenous peoples' lives, we now know far more about the precise details, the extent and the nature of the control exercised by governments in Queensland over the lives of Indigenous peoples over the past 100 years than we otherwise would.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Democracy, the media and human rights: Dodson (1997)

Throughout many western democracies contemporary beliefs about the role of the media are directly shaped by enlightenment ideals and the struggle against state despotism. Although somewhat tarnished, these ideals continue to inspire resistance to oppression, and sustain battles for freedom of conscience, speech, and individual liberty, for political self determination and democratisation.

Disability Rights

Victorian launch of the Companion Card

As Federal Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Victorian Government and venues that have supported the Companion Card concept.