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I would also like to thank the Law Council of Australia and its Advisory Committee on Indigenous Legal Issues for inviting me to deliver this address, and to take part in the customary law panel discussion later today.
I would also like to thank the Law Council of Australia and its Advisory Committee on Indigenous Legal Issues for inviting me to deliver this address, and to take part in the customary law panel discussion later today.
Opening address to the 'Indigenous peoples and racism' Conference A Regional Meeting for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance by Dr William Jonas AM , Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner , Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 20 February 2001
Welcome all of you to HREOC and to this workshop run by the Australian Electoral Commission. May I particularly thank Deputy Electoral Commissioner Andy Becker and his staff for making this process available today.
I am particularly pleased to join in opening this international conference on mobility and transport for elderly and disabled people and to be discussing accessible transport here in Western Australia. The Government of Western Australia deserves recognition for the commitment it is showing to making public transport accessible: a commitment adopted in principle, policy and plans and increasingly being delivered in practice.
A very big thank you, in particular, to our colleagues from the Australian Attorney-General's Department and theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mostly, of course, for their work with us, over many years, in advancing the human rights of people with disability, internationally and domestically. But also, for being (as far as I know) the first in the world to refer, officially, to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities not by its unappealing acronym of CRPD, or as the Disability Convention, but as the "DisCo".
Thank you especially to Margaret Ward, the previous National Convenor of the network and Amelia Starr the current Convenor for the excellent debate you have nurtured over the past few years between Government, the housing industry and the community.
Allow me to commence by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Wallumattagal clan of the Eora peoples. Let me also acknowledge my fellow speakers, as well as other distinguished guests and friends.
I am honoured and delighted to be here to deliver the Kenneth Jenkins Oration. My participation continues the involvement of members of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission with this event.
Thank you Professor Lansbury, and thank you to Marian and the Women and Work Research Group for organising today’s forum. Thank you also to our panellists – Dr Lyn Craig, Petra Stirling, and John Murray.
Homelessness has, I'm sure, been on your agendas for many years. More recently, both Parity and the Rudd federal government (if I can put you both in the same league) has given it a much increased focus. Today, I want to identify the many human rights issues raised in the context of homelessness, and suggest how a human rights framework would help address what is an ever-increasing problem in our society.
Conference Convenors and Co-directors, distinguished guests from both Australia and overseas, ladies and gentlemen, all. 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.
Despite its rather grand title, this presentation will be a relatively modest attempt to set out the key challenges for human rights in Australia as I see them at the outset of my term as Human Rights Commissioner. Let us begin with a quick survey of the state of human rights internationally and in Australia today.
I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wurundjeri people, and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
The right to non-discrimination on the basis of sex and immigration regulations: Abdulaziz, Cabales and Balkandali v The United Kingdom (28 May 1985) Eur Court HR
I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders.
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