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As I reach the end of my appointment as the first Disability Discrimination Commissioner, and in the light of proposed structural and funding changes to the Commission, I am drawn to reflect upon the theory and practice, challenges and developments, lessons and achievements, of the first five years of operation of the Disability Discrimination Act, and to look towards directions for the next five…

Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is pervasive across many parts of the world. Addressing this burden of discrimination has been identified as a key issue by the Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions.

The Migration Amendment (Maintaining the Good Order of Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2015 (the Bill) would give increased power to ‘authorised officers’ to use force against people (including asylum seekers) in immigration detention facilities. It appears that the majority (if not all) of the authorised officers will be employees of Serco Australia Pty Ltd (Serco), the private company…

The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014 Summary factsheet July 2015 What was the Inquiry about? On 3 February 2014 the President of the Commission announced a national inquiry into children in immigration detention. The purpose of the Inquiry was to investigate the ways in which life in immigration detention affects the health, well-being and

The National Anti-Racism Strategy was developed to help people to understand what racism is and why it is a problem. And it was about empowering people to prevent racism from happening and to reduce it in their communities. Almost three years on from its launch in August 2012, we can report on the Strategy’s success. But we do so in the knowledge that more remains to be done.

This paper presents an indicative analysis of the mental health legislation in each State and Territory in terms of recently agreed international standards - the UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care. The legislation in every Australian jurisdiction breaches the standards prescribed in the UN Principles in a number of ways…

The Report of the National Inquiry into the Human Rights of People with Mental Illness was tabled in Parliament and publicly released on 20 October 1993 and found that people affected by mental illness are among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our community and that they suffer from widespread systemic discrimination

The Commission has sought in the conduct of this reference and in its approach to this report to take advantage of the potential of new technologies for achieving improved effectiveness, efficiency and accessibility of information and service delivery which this report and previous papers for this reference discuss.