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There was a clear consensus about the critical nature of the issue of universal design. 'Universal' means designing Australian homes to meet the changing needs of their occupants across their lifetimes.

I have two tasks this evening. The first is to launch my Social Justice Report and Native Title Report for 2004. The second is to launch the ATSIC Yilli Rreung Regional Council"s Strategic Plan.

Mr Tom Calma Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), Parliament House, Canberra, 8 April 2005

Social Justice Report 2004 Summary Sheet One back to contents Downlad as PDF Chronology of events relating to the introduction of new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs (2002 - 2004) This provides an overview of the main events leading up to the introduction of the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs on 1 July 2004, as well as the key events…

The model proposed by HREOC has been costed by respected independent analysts NATSEM at $213m in 2003-04. In 2005-06, paid maternity leave would cost the Government $217m, which is $293m less than the Baby Bonus which relates only to one child per family and in which the full benefit cannot be reaped until five years after the birth of the child.

In order to be eligible for paid maternity leave a woman must have been in paid work (including casual employment, contract work and self-employment) for 40 weeks of the past 52 weeks with any number of employers and/or in any number of positions. Access to this payment will not be means tested. (Recommendation 5).

HREOC contracted the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) to undertake research into the cost of a national system of paid maternity leave. NATSEM has estimated that the net cost of HREOC's proposed paid maternity leave scheme would be $213 million in 2003-04.

Women incur significant workplace disadvantage from the onset of family responsibilities, not just in the immediate period following the birth of a child but over the longer term. This inevitably results in lessened economic security for women, including during retirement. The inequality of outcomes for men and women as a result of the shared duty of raising a family is self evident. While some…

Encouraging and providing assistance for parents to raise their children benefits all of us. Paid maternity leave is a mechanism which provides assistance to families so that they may better combine work and family responsibilities, to the benefit of the children, the workplace and the community. It may also have flow-on benefits for the fertility rate, community life and social cohesion.

The health and wellbeing of new mothers and babies is a fundamental argument for paid maternity leave. While income support measures may be designed to achieve a variety of outcomes, the need to ensure that women can afford to spend the first weeks of a child's life recovering from the birth and nurturing the baby requires a measure designed to provide this. The 14 weeks leave recommended by the…

View the organisation chart from the Annual Report 2002-2003.

Click here to return to the Organisation Chart Page Click here to return to the Annual Report Index Page

On 20 December 2007, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a partnership between all levels of government to work with Indigenous1 communities to achieve the target of ‘closing the gap’ on Indigenous disadvantage; and notably, to close the 17-year gap in life expectancy within a generation, and to halve the mortality rate of Indigenous children within ten-years.

In my 2005 Social Justice Report1, I argued that it was unacceptable for a country as rich as ours, and one based on the notion of the ‘fair go’ and the ‘level playing field’, to tolerate the gross health inequality that has existed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians for at long as records have been kept. I called for action, and I made recommendations that set out a broad path to…

That the governments of Australia commit to achieving equality of health status and life expectation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people within 25 years.

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have not shared in the health gains enjoyed by other Australians in the last 100 years. It is a national scandal that Indigenous Australians live 17 years less than other Australians. Indigenous Australians continue to needlessly suffer and die early, not from a lack of solutions or government commitments…

‘Governments can make a real difference in the lives of indigenous people by addressing social and economic disadvantage, including life expectancy, and improving governance and service delivery arrangements with indigenous people.

COAG today agreed to a partnership between all levels of government to work with Indigenous communities to achieve the target of closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. COAG committed to:

Learn about the outcomes of the National Indigenous Health Equality Summit.

The Council of Australian Governments has agreed to a partnership between all levels of government to work with Indigenous Australian communities to achieve the target of closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. COAG committed to: