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In my role as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner I am required to produce two annual reports on Indigenous human rights issues – the Social Justice Report and the Native Title Report.

The project was officially supported by the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia, the Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria, the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Islamic Girls’ and Women's Group, the Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, the Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition and Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE. The…

7.1 Forming relationships 7.2 The detention environment 7.3 Opportunities for play, learning and development 7.4 Impacts on preschoolers 7.5 Findings specific to preschoolers In preschool children we have seen regressed or disturbed behaviour such as needing to cling to parents at night and refusing to sleep in their own bed; separation anxiety; incontinence; uncharacteristic aggression; the…

In the Social Justice Report 1999, my first report as Social Justice Commissioner, I identified four key themes and challenges that existed in the approach of the federal government to Indigenous policy making at the time. These were moving beyond welfare dependency, accountability, participation and reconciliation.[1] Since the release of that report approximately four years ago, the key themes…

In addition to the detailed findings in each of Chapters 5-16, the Inquiry has made the following major findings in relation to Australia's mandatory immigration detention system as it applied to children who arrived in Australia without a visa (unauthorised arrivals) over the period 1999-2002.

A century ago, the Australian people engaged in a debate about creating a nation. They held meetings...They wrote articles and letters in newspapers. Many views were canvassed and voices were heard. The separate colonies, having divided up the land between them, discussed ways of sharing powers in order to achieve a vision of a united Australia. The result was the Australian Constitution,…

As this is the first public speech I have made in Sydney since the events at Redfern several weeks ago, I would also like to begin today by paying my respects to the family of TJ Hickey and to express my condolences for your loss. I would also like to acknowledge the elders of the Redfern community for the strength and the dignity that you have displayed in dealing with these tragic events and…

It is a story of colonisation; the threat of losing our cultural authority to manage our societies; and the despair that has come from that disempowerment. It is a story of grief and trauma and the continued pain of living with grog, drug and violence.