Mental health and human rights in regional Australia in 2005
Mr Johnathon Ridnell, ABC Regional Radio Dr Maureen Rogers, Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities Fellow speakers Ladies and gentlemen
Mr Johnathon Ridnell, ABC Regional Radio Dr Maureen Rogers, Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities Fellow speakers Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. Can I begin by apologising for the Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski. Sev has been following this inquiry very closely but had arranged to be away this week before the schedule for these hearings was settled.
Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that we take for granted? When you're wandering through the breakfast cereal isle at the supermarket, for example, do you ever wonder whether Uncle Toby really was? If so, was he related to Sara Lee? Were Nana's apple pies originally made by Granny Smith? It's not so much that familiarity breeds contempt as that it lulls us into a state of mind where we no longer feel the need to question or even test our assumptions and presumptions.
The creation of Ausyouth is an initiative that clearly picks up on the real-life needs of today's youth, an initiative that has the potential to foster the building blocks of a progressive caring society, and from a human rights perspective, it's an initiative that addresses some of Australia's obligations with respect to international instruments, to which we as a nation are committed.
Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to speak at this conference. I'm very pleased to be here. Firstly as a senior Commonwealth public servant not based in Canberra I immediately warm to this forum. The challenges of interacting with, and learning from, our colleagues are increased greatly by the fact that we aren't located in the city viewed by most commonwealth public servants as the centre of the universe.
I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we stand, the Eora People, and pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present, and by so doing:
Thank you Mr Wishardt for your invitation and kind introduction. I would like also to acknowledge Ms Wendy McCarthy, under whose stewardship PLAN is sure to go from strength to strength.
I am pleased to be participating in the opening of the Futures Victorian Rural Health Forum. I would also like to thank Neil Roxburgh and the Country AIDS Network (CAN) for inviting me to speak.
Let me join those who have spoken before me in acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I pay my respects to their elders past and present, and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders we have with us tonight.
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.
Thank you for inviting me here today to speak about human rights in Australia. I would like to use this opportunity to focus on how human rights are protected in Australia; and how you, as human rights educators, can help students to understand these protections. I will also seek to shed some light on the role of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and some of our responses to some current human rights issues.
I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna People, the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.
This page provides access to over 200 speeches and papers on disability issues from members (current and past) and senior staff of the Australian Human Rights Commission. All major speeches since 2000 are included, as well as a selection of earlier speeches and papers as far back as 1989.
I would like to start today by acknowledging the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people on whose land we are on today and pay my respect to your elders both past and present. Thank you to Seith for your welcome to country. I pay my respects as a Gangulu man from Central Queensland.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are on Gadigal country and I pay my respects to Elders past and present. Thank you Allen for your welcome to country as well.
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