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Rights and Freedoms1 May 2013Webpage
Prohibition on imprisonment for inability to fulfil a contract
Learn how Australians could once be imprisoned on the grounds of not fulfilling a contract and how this is no longer the case. -
Rights and Freedoms1 May 2013Webpage
Right to recognition as a person
Learn all about how people with a disability have the same rights as people who are living without a disability under Australian law. -
Rights and Freedoms14 December 2012Speech
Australian Lawyers Alliance Conference (2009)
As lawyers who work every day with ordinary people, you will all have first hand experience of the value that we, in Australia, place on human rights. You will also be acutely aware of the significant gaps in human rights protection in Australia. -
Rights and Freedoms10 August 2015Speech
NSW Council for Civil Liberties
I was pleased to have been invited to speak to the NSW Council for Civil Liberties at this your annual fund raising dinner for you are, above all, best placed to understand the phenomenon of the last few years that is of concern to the Australian Human Rights Commission; that is, the encroachment of executive discretion on fundamental rights and freedoms. Senator Cory Bernardi calls this a … -
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice2 May 2018Speech
2018 Grace Vaughan Memorial Lecture, University of Western Australia
Acknowledgments Good evening everyone. I would like to acknowledge the Noongar people the custodians of this land, and all their elders, past, present and emerging. Yaningi warangira ngindaji yuwa muwayi ingirranggu, Wurundjeri yani U. Balangarri wadjirragali jarra ningi – gamali ngindaji yau muwayi nyirrami ngarri thangani. Yaningi miya ngindaji Muwayi ingga winyira ngarragi thangani… -
Rights and Freedoms6 June 2016Speech
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… -
Rights and Freedoms1 May 2013Webpage
Prohibition on retrospective criminal laws
Learn how people can't be found guilty of a criminal offence that was not viewed as a criminal offence under the law at the time when it was committed. -
Rights and Freedoms1 May 2013Webpage
Prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred
Back to rights and freedoms: right by right Article 20 Article 20 of the ICCPR states: Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. Australian interpretative declaration and reservation This requirement however is subject to the right of … -
Rights and Freedoms18 November 2014Speech
Fraser Lecture 2014
Professor Gillian Triggs President Australian Human Rights Commission Fraser Lecture Canberra Check against delivery Thank you Dr Andrew Leigh for your invitation and introduction. It is an honour to be here in your electorate of Fraser in north Canberra. I would like to acknowledge that we meet on the land of the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present. As we… -
Commission – General14 December 2012Webpage
Links to Human Rights Organisations and Resources
This website contains links to other websites that are external to the Australian Human Rights Commission. The Commission takes reasonable care in linking websites but has no direct control over the content of the linked sites, or the changes that may occur to the content on those sites. It is the responsibility of the user to make their own decisions about the accuracy, currency, reliability and… -
Rights and Freedoms18 May 2017Publication
OPCAT in Australia Consultation Paper (2017)
OPCAT in Australia Consultation Paper MAY 2017 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 What is OPCAT? 2.1 National Preventive Mechanism 2.2 Sub-committee on the Prevention of Torture 3 The NPM model 4 Key issues for consideration 4.1 Stocktake of places of detention 4.2 Definitional issues – what does OPCAT cover? 4.3 Progressive implementation of OPCAT 4.4 Scope of the role of the NPM 4.5… -
Rights and Freedoms14 December 2012Opinion piece
Australia's human rights obligations as part of the "coalition of the willing" (2004)
Media reports and repeated allegations of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody have raised fundamental questions about Australia's human rights obligations as part of the "coalition of the willing" . -
Rights and Freedoms1 May 2013Webpage
Freedom of association
Learn about our democratic right to freedom of association and how it supports many other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights we enjoy. -
Children's Rights30 June 2014Speech
Findings from the Big Banter and future plans
Exploring advancements in children’s rights and emerging themes from the Big Banter. A resource for human rights and wellbeing from Megan Mitchell. -
Commission – General14 December 2012Speech
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By way of preamble, it is clear the current climate of terrorism obviously requires governments to put in place measures that can effectively deal with a serious terrorist threat or event as soon as it is detected. Parliament cannot wait until potential dangers eventuate. It is understandable – indeed it is necessary in advance - to put in place measures that can deal with the worst case… -
Children's Rights30 June 2014Speech
Surviving and thriving: addressing self-harm among children
Countering bullying and addressing self-harm challenges, a speech by Megan Mitchell, National Children's Commissioner. -
Commission – General14 December 2012Speech
President speeches: Speech at Annual UNAA Day Dinner
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Kaurna people, and pay my respects to their elders past and present. -
Rights and Freedoms27 November 2013Speech
Freedom of Speech and Racial vilification: one man’s freedom ends where another’s starts
The Sydney Institute Tuesday 26 November 2013 6pm Venue: King & Wood Mallesons, Level 61, Governor Phillip Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney (Check against delivery) I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the Sydney Institute speakers program and to discuss two freedoms- freedom of speech and freedom from racial vilification. The Sydney Institute is an invaluable not for… -
Rights and Freedoms19 August 2016Speech
Tony Blackshield Lecture
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE OVERREACH OF EXECUTIVE DISCRETION: CITIZENSHIP, ASYLUM SEEKERS AND WHISTLEBLOWERS It is a special pleasure for me to speak in honour of Professor Blackshield, who is a long time colleague of mine in the law. He is a constitutional law scholar of the highest order and one of the most influential figures in Australian legal education over the last 50 years. I have two… -
Rights and Freedoms14 December 2012Speech
"The local face of global justice policy": Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM (2004)
Firstly 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 and express our aspirations for Australians of the future to be socially just and inclusive.