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I am very pleased to be here talking about Human Rights and Climate Change in the first of HREOC’s seminar series celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the ‘Declaration’).1

Thank you for the introduction and I thank HREOC for the opportunity to speak here today. Before I commence my discussion, I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the country on which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

back to Human Rights Law Seminars THE HON ROBERT McCLELLAND MP Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Australia and International Human Right : Coming in from the Cold HREOC, The Hearing Room, Level 8, 133 Castlereagh St, Sydney 23 May 2008, 12.45pm First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present…

While Australia may have come in from the cold, the wind has been taken from my sails.  The typical role of an international lawyer over the last few years, whether in Australia or in the UK, Europe and North America has been to berate their respective government ministers with numerous failings and to list the necessary reforms to policy. In Australia’s case these have been to persuade the…

Paper presented at the Homelessness and Human Rights Seminar Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 12.30 – 2pm, Monday 7 April 2008 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW

Paper presented at the Homelessness and Human Rights Seminar Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 12.30 – 2pm, Monday 7 August 2008 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW

1. That Aboriginal child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory be designated as an issue of urgent national significance by both the Australian and Northern Territory Governments, and both governments immediately establish a collaborative partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding to specifically address the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse. It is critical that both…

Speaking Notes for a seminar organised by Human Rights and Equal Rights Commission on the topic of Indigenous Stolen Wages Inquiry held by Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee by Senator Russell Trood Senator for Queensland 9 March 2007 Inquiry Initiated by Senator Bartlett, Democrat Queensland Inquiry much indebted to the research of Dr Ros Kidd Inquiry began in October 2006,…

I'd like to begin by acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people. I would also like to acknowledge elders and colleagues here today, Senator Trood, Johnathon Hunyor, and to thank President Von Doussa for inviting me here today.

What I will talk about today is the way in which the Racial Discrimination Act (‘the RDA’) has been used by Aboriginal people to seek a remedy for the injustice of underpayment of wages.

The Australian Human Rights Commission supports a Human Rights Act for Australia.  It would set out in a single document the human rights that all people in Australia are entitled to enjoy, and the responsibilities we have to respect the rights of others.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with all of you, and sleep with some of you. As you will have noticed, Vinnies was good enough to let my eleven-year-old daughter Rachel join me as my guide tonight, and she'll be the only one getting any of my cuddles. The rest of you have to make your own arrangements.

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.