News

Commission – General

Presentation at the Governor’s Leadership Foundation Forum

HREOC is a statutory body independent of government. While our main function is to promote an understanding and acceptance of human rights in Australia, we are also charged with the responsibilities of investigating, and attempting to conciliate complaints of unlawful discrimination under the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004.1 HREOC also has specific responsibilities to report annually to Parliament on the enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous Australians.

Commission – General

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I am very pleased to have been asked to open the 9th Conference of the International Student Advisers Network of Australia (ISANA). I am pleased to welcome those who come from abroad, to exchange ideas and thoughts with a variety of people and across a range of disciplines and institutions.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The practical power of human rights

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on tonight. I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Securing the rights of Indigenous Territorians

May I begin by acknowledging the Larrakeyah people – the traditional owners of the land where we meet today. I pay my respects to their elders and those who have come before us.

Disability Rights

Notes for presentation to Productivity Commission DDA review

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. Can I begin by apologising for the Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski. Sev has been following this inquiry very closely but had arranged to be away this week before the schedule for these hearings was settled.

Sex Discrimination

The Crisis of Masculinity: Pru Goward (2004)

The Crisis of Masculinity –is there the need for a men’s movement? Speech delivered by Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, as part of the Oz Prospects Lecture Series, State Library of Victoria, 20 April, 2004. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the honour of...

Rights and Freedoms

The human rights of older Australians in the bush: Chris Sidoti

I am very pleased to be here tonight at the Rural Ageing Seminar dinner. Thank you, to Dame Roma and the Rural Ageing Seminar Reference Group, for inviting me to attend an event that (for once) takes place where it counts - in rural South Australia.

Commission – General

President Speech: QUT Law Graduation Ceremony Occasional Address

Acting Chancellor Mr Stephen Keim SC, Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake, Professor the Hon. Michael Lavarch, Executive Dean of Law, other members of the official party, Faculty staff, graduates and your families and friends.

Commission – General

International Human Rights Day Address

In keeping with the theme of today's awards, I want to welcome you all here to celebrate our local champions, many of whom are with us as nominees for the 2004 Human Rights Medal and Human Rights Awards.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

2009 Speech: Launch of Social Justice and Native Title Reports 2008

I begin by paying my respects to the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. pay my respects to your elders, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us. And thank you, Allen Madden, for your generous welcome to country for all of us.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Geography at the Millenium: Dr Bill Jonas (1999)

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Eora people, the traditional owners, custodians and kinsfolk of the land where this conference is being held.

Disability Rights

NSW DET Teacher Consultants conference:Keynote Speech

Read a keynote speech on the inclusivity of people with a disability at a NSW Department of Education and Training teachers conference.

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.

Rights and Freedoms

Don Chipp Foundation Defending Democracy Public Forum “What a Bill of Rights could deliver for Australia”: Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2005)

Many of you here would have read Tony Stephen’s SMH article ‘Stand up for your rights stuff’ of Saturday 8 October, where he gave an account of the launch by New Matilda of a campaign to install a Bill of Rights in Australia.

Commission – General

Graduation Address

I speak to you now, not as the Chancellor of this University, but as the President of Australia’s national Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.