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Commission – General

Presentation at the Governor’s Leadership Foundation Forum

HREOC is a statutory body independent of government. While our main function is to promote an understanding and acceptance of human rights in Australia, we are also charged with the responsibilities of investigating, and attempting to conciliate complaints of unlawful discrimination under the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004.1 HREOC also has specific responsibilities to report annually to Parliament on the enjoyment of human rights of Indigenous Australians.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Speeches on Sex Discrimination Issues

Access Speeches on Sex Discrimination Issues Sex Discrimination by the Commission’s Commissioners from between the years 1996 to 2012.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

The Informa 3rd Annual Negotiating Native Title Forum (2009)

I begin today by paying my respects to the Wurundjeri peoples, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. I pay my respects to your elders, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this country and pay my respect to Elders past and present. I’d like also to acknowledge my fellow panel members and thank Richard for inviting me to speak tonight.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

GARMA FESTIVAL PRESENTATION

OPENING THE DOOR: INVOLVING ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES IN SCHOOL EDUCATION GARMA FESTIVAL PRESENTATION TOM CALMA: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMISSIONER I would like to acknowledge the Yolngu people on whose land we are today. I would like to thank you and Charles Darwin University for inviting me to speak at this Garma festival where we celebrate the Yolngu culture and world view. It is relevant to be talking about culture in relation to education as culture and literacy go hand in hand; one augments the other.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

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Both are written by Dr William Jonas, who is here today. As you would know he is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

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Dad's time with their daughters is special time, and I spent the afternoon last weekend watching a chickflick with Rachel. For me, the first five minutes consisted of the sound of waves on a beach, seagullls, the slam of a car door, and someone crying. In fact, the whole movie was a fine demonstration that there is much more to communication than speech.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

MENTAL HEALTH FOR ALL: WHAT'S THE VISION?

Over the last four years the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (the Commission) has played a key role in raising community awareness about the human rights Australians with a mental illness. The Commission, through its public inquiry process, brought into national focus how, amongst other things, people affected by mental illness frequently faced discrimination and stigmatisation based on ignorance, fear and inaccurate stereotypes.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

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“The title of this presentation is "Using Conventions for disability-inclusive action in the Pacific". What do these words mean? Are they important? And does it matter that we all use these words to mean the same thing?

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

10th Anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act

I'm sure that I'm not the only person with a disability who has experienced the lonely path of advocacy. As we find it necessary to advocate for our right to be able to read the same information as the rest of society, or to enter a building through the same door, or take a guide dog to the same restaurant, we can also find ourselves agreeing with the next line of the song, "two can be as bad as one".

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Initiatives to achieve better access to the built environment

As you know, the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act, and equivalent laws in all States, make it unlawful to discriminate on the ground of a person's disability. One of the areas covered by the Act is access to premises. The only exception to this is where a building is already constructed not providing access, and alteration to provide access would cause unjustifiable hardship.

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Launch of Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century

I also acknowledge colleagues from government, and from non-government organisations, including from a wide range of churches and faith-based organisations. And particularly can I acknowledge colleagues from the Australian Multicultural Foundation, Hass Dellal and Athalia Zwartz, and Professors Gary Bouma and Des Cahill, as the authors of the report we are receiving and launching today.

Category, Speech

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