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Children's Rights

Children’s rights to safety and to a holistic education

Good morning everyone and thank you Katharine O’Donnell, ANZELA National President, for inviting me to be part of what I hear has been a stimulating event to date and to present the Dr Ann Shorten Memorial Lecture. I too would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we...

Category, Speech
Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Making detention safe and humane: can we grasp a once-in-a-generation opportunity?

Making detention safe and humane: can we grasp a once-in-a-generation opportunity? Austin Asche Oration Australian Academy of Law and Charles Darwin University Nitmiluk Lounge, Level 4, Parliament House, Darwin 5pm, 19 September 2017 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Introduction Acknowledgements Traditional...

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

10th Anniversary of the UN General Assembly adopting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) ACT Human Rights Commission

[Introduction in Bunuba] Jalangurru garrwarri balanggarri. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you Violet Sheridan for your warm welcome to country. I would like to begin by acknowledging your people, the Ngunnawal people, the Traditional Owners of the land upon which we meet today. Thank you President...

Category, Speech
Children's Rights

Reaching the highest standard of health for adolescents

Speech given at the Australian Association for Adolescent Health 2017 Conference Date: 10am - 11am, Thursday 6 July 2017 Introduction Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here to speak about the work I have done as Australia’s first National Children’s Commissioner. Before I begin, I would like to...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Graduation speech: Moral courage

Speech given at University of South Australia Graduation Ceremony Check against delivery It is wonderful to be joining you this afternoon. To all those who will be graduating very shortly, my warmest congratulations to you. And my congratulations as well to the proud families of graduands. In...

Category, Speech
Children's Rights

Is jail the answer for Australian kids?

This year around 900 children and young people will spend Christmas in jail. More than 5 per cent of this population are between 10 and 12 years old and 74 per cent of this age group are Indigenous. Most have been charged or convicted with petty crimes, like graffiti, vandalism, shop lifting or fare...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Access and equity: human rights in practice

Speech to SydWest Multicultural Services AGM Edward Santow – speaking notes – CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Acknowledgements: the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, the Darug people Dr Chandrika Subramaniyan (Chair, SydWest Multicultural Services) Elfa Moraitakis (CEO, SydWest) Introduction...

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous Property Rights: Land, Business and Governance

Thank you Galarrwuy for your warm welcome to Gulkula on your country. It is really wonderful to be here on the occasion the 40th anniversary of the Northern Territory Land Rights Act and another successful Garma Festival. I am a Gangulu man from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland, I acknowledge...

Category, Speech
Age Discrimination

National Press Club speech - Susan Ryan

“The ageing revolution is not over” - Last time I spoke here I called my address “the longevity revolution”, and asked, “crisis or opportunity?”. I intended that question as a challenge but it seems my challenge has not been met. We are as a community, still floundering on the crisis side of the binary. Our approach is still steeped in the language of “burden” and “deficits”. We are still failing to realise the opportunities that longevity can create for us.

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Jessie Street Trust Annual Lunch 2016

Jessie Street Trust Annual Lunch - I am pleased to join you today to honour the work and annual birthday of Jessie Mary Grey Lillingston Street, a remarkable, and very modern Australian woman. Well before the First World War, she was an advocate for many of the social issues we care about today; equality for women, constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians, world peace and for disarmament.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Australian Network on Disability Annual National Conference 2016

I would like to thank the Australian Network on Disability for inviting me to speak about the work I have been doing. As many of you would know, I have recently concluded the Willing to Work National Inquiry into Employment Discrimination against Older Australians and Australians with Disability...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Human rights across the Tasman: a widening gulf

I am honoured to have been invited to give this lecture at the Law School of the University of Canterbury, funded by the generosity of the Sir Eric Hotung Fellowship. While I had settled the subject matter of this lecture, I thought it would be helpful to know what other Hotung Fellows had discussed...

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

National Press Club speech - Kate Jenkins

‘Accelerating change: gender equality from the household to the workplace’ Kate Jenkins Sex Discrimination Commissioner Australian Human Rights Commission National Press Club 20 April 2016 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY I would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the Traditional Custodians and First...

Category, Speech

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