News

Rights and Freedoms

59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Read a statement about the history of the Australian Human Rights Commission, which was presented at the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in 2003.

Rights and Freedoms

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.

Commission – General

President speech: Australian Psychological Society (Sydney Branch) AGM

I would like to 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.

Commission – General

The Admission and Exclusion of Asylum Seekers Conference

I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders.

Commission – General

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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.

Business and Human Rights

Executive discretion in a time of COVID-19

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have required very quick action by governments. But those responses have also involved significant limitations on people’s rights and freedoms, especially freedom of movement, and implemented through executive power often with limited parliamentary involvement.

Children's Rights

Updates from Australian and New Zealand Children's Commissioners and Guardians

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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The story in my hand is the saddest of all stories. It is the story of children taken from their mothers and fathers and families. It is the story of mothers and fathers and families who lost the most precious thing in their lives. Their children.

Disability Rights

Burdekin: The Human Rights Of Australians With Disabilities

I would like to thank ACROD for inviting me to deliver the Kenneth Jenkins Oration; both because I regard it as a privilege and because it gives me the opportunity to address a gathering of the key people in the disability field at an important time in the work of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Legal

Human Rights and Climate Change: A Tragedy in the Making - Hon John von Doussa QC

I am very pleased to be here talking about Human Rights and Climate Change in the first of HREOC’s seminar series celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the ‘Declaration’).1

Rights and Freedoms

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Protection of Human Rights at the Federal Level: Graeme Innes AM (2006)

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.

Rights and Freedoms

Diversity in Health 2003: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM

Conference Convenors and Co-directors, distinguished guests from both Australia and overseas, ladies and gentlemen, all. 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.

Rights and Freedoms

Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies Conference

I am delighted to be invited to speak today at the Biennial Conference of the Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies, in association with partner organisations dedicated to the wellbeing of children.

Commission – General

President Speech: Flinders University Law School Prize Giving Ceremony 2010

First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

Commission – General

President speech: Mandatory immigration detention of children in Australia: how far have we come and where to from here? (2010)

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respect to their elders past and present.