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Disability Rights

2015 International Day of People with Disability

Good afternoon. To begin, I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be here today. I make particular mention of Indigenous Peoples...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

National Press Club address

(check against delivery) I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. I do so not as a formulaic beginning, but as a sincere recognition of the place which the land holds in the lives and culture of our first Australians. I saw much of the disadvantage Aboriginal people experience during my...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Speech to Australia's Network on Disability International Day Function

Click here to download presentation slide I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. *Slide with contact details* I've pondered for a while how to theme this speech. After all, it’s my last international day as Commissioner, as my term concludes in July next year. And 2013 - a huge year of...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

ABS International Day of People with Disability

I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. I have a dream that my children will grow up in a nation where they are not judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Who said these words? Martin Luther King. If I can adapt that quote, I have a dream that my...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Housing Demonstration Project Launch of The Summer Foundation Apartments

Patricia had a degenerative disability, and lived in Department Of Housing accommodation. She has used a wheelchair for the last few years. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, but we talked in her kitchen while my friends from church worked in her garden. She told me she didn't leave the house much, and had only gone out a couple of times this year- it was September.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Opening Statement

Good afternoon Committee members, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. Australia is a developed country which places importance on human rights issues. Our Government has participated in the development of many United Nations human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Speech - My body, my health, my decision (2012)

Both men acquired their disabilities 20 years ago. Neither of them work, nor do they have daily activities, or relationships with people outside their family.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Speech -Keynote Address for Suncorp and PWC’s Traumatic Injury & Disability Insurance Summit (2012)

I'm a proud Australian. We live in a great democracy, with one of the strongest economies in the world. I'm not proud, though, of how we treat Australians with disability- some of our most disadvantaged citizens. And we are all ashamed that, in such a strong nation, that treatment continues. This shame can no longer continue. So let's fix the system. Let's have an NDIS so that not some, but every Australian counts. Thanks for the chance to speak with you today.

Category, Speech

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