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Rights and Freedoms

Beyond Bush Talks: Chris Sidoti (2000)

Thank you for inviting me to speak today. It is almost a year since I spoke about the Human Rights Commission's Bush Talks consultations at the 1999 national conference of the Australian Association of Rural Nurses in Adelaide. I spoke in particular about some of the health concerns raised in the consultations. Today I would like to look beyond Bush Talks in more detail at some of the areas of particular concern which were raised and then explain some of the Commission's continuing work on human rights in rural Australia.

Commission – General

President Speech: 2010 Human Rights Day Oration

We meet today on the lands of the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation. On behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission I pay my respect to their elders past and present.

Commission – General

Address to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Annual Conference

A little over a month ago, I started as the new President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, ending my time as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.

Commission – General

Equality before the law

In the second century AD, Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, thanked one of his brothers for teaching him to value "the conception of the state with one law for all, based upon individual equality and freedom of speech, and of a sovereignty which prizes above all things the liberty of the subject."1

Commission – General

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To be honest, this is a rare occasion for me. Much of my career has been spent in the monastic cells of academic institutions teaching the young about different legal systems; their origins and growth, their strengths and weaknesses. Your world - the world of business and industry, finances, profit and loss, sales and marketing - is largely foreign to me in a practical sense.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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Yesterday in federal Parliament the Attorney-General tabled the Social Justice Report 2001, my annual review of the exercise of human rights by Indigenous Australians, and the Native Title Report 2001, my annual review of native title developments.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous Forum, National Mental Health Services Conference (2010)

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders both 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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Utilising Indigenous socio-economic data in policy development

Thank you to Jon Altman and Boyd Hunter for the opportunity to speak at this important conference. It has provided an excellent opportunity for researchers, bureaucrats and policy-makers to discuss the adequacy of current collection methods for socio-economic data relating to Indigenous people, how such data might be improved and how it might be better utilised.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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I am honoured to present this distinguished lecture, which has been established as a tribute to the contribution of Sir Wallace Kyle to Western Australian society.

Disability Rights

The Human Rights of Mentally Ill People:the HREOC inquiry and after

I congratulate the Probation and Parole Officers' Association for their initiative in organizing this conference on Mental Health, Criminal Justice and Corrections.

Disability Rights

Preparations for the Olympics and Paralympics and inclusion of people with disabilities: the Australian experience

There is substantial attention in the international community being directed at present to the human rights of people with disabilities. An international convention on human rights and disability is being actively considered through the United Nations system. I would have been attending a regional meeting in Beijing in April this year as part of this process but this was cancelled because of the SARS outbreak.

Commission – General

All under control? Recent issues in Australia’s legal response to counter-terrorism

13 November 2006 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Forum, Sydney I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are meeting on today. I would also like to thank our distinguished guests, the Attorney General, the Honorable Philip Ruddock MP, and Professor George Williams for participating in this forum. BALANCING NATIONAL SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Rights and Freedoms

A Human Rights Act for Australia

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of Members of Parliament - Mike Reynolds (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly), Linda Lavarch, Dean Wells, Evan Moorhead; Christine Smith, Desley Scott, Kate Jones, Dianne Reilly and Vicky Darling.

Rights and Freedoms

"Armenia to Rwanda - Genocide in the 20th Century - Has humanity learnt anything?": Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2004)

In so doing however I am confronted with the classic dilemma of many, namely what fresh insight can I bring to bear on this subject that has not already been canvassed.