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Sex Discrimination

Ausyouth Conference 2001

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.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Past Achievements and Future Strategies in Educating the Public about Human Rights

Let me preface my remarks today with the assertion that, generally speaking, Australia has a strong and proud record on human rights. The Australian Government is formally committed to supporting the universal observance of human rights both at home and abroad saying that this policy helps to achieve a more stable and just international order, which benefits the security and prosperity of everyone. In this statement, the Government links peace to the observance of human rights, a topic to which I shall return.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Striking the balance with work and family in rural Australia

In reality however rural and regional Australia is a significant employer of Australian women, and the two million women in regional and rural Australia contribute to their local communities and local economies while caring for their families. Certainly the women of Shepparton yesterday did not believe work-life balance was easy in Shepparton.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

President Speech: Promoting Women in Leadership

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.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

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To be honest, this is a rare occasion for me. Much of my career has been spent in the monastic cells of academic institutions teaching the young about different legal systems; their origins and growth, their strengths and weaknesses. Your world - the world of business and industry, finances, profit and loss, sales and marketing - is largely foreign to me in a practical sense.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Diabetes in Indigenous Communities

May I also congratulate the organisers for convening this important Forum. We know that rates of diabetes among indigenous peoples across the globe, and in Australia, are extremely high and require specific, focused attention. And we also know that we need action urgently.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Valuing Parenthood: Paid Maternity Leave - Interim Options Paper Launch

Paid maternity leave: Opting for a future Valuing Parenthood: Paid Maternity Leave - Interim Options Paper Launch. Speech by Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, 18 April 2002. Thank you for being here today in what I trust will be the beginning of an informed and fair-minded public...

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Society of University Lawyers

When I was invited to give this address, my first thought was to talk about unlawful discrimination in the context of higher education and, in particular, disability discrimination.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

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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.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

H R Law Masterclass: Federal Anti-discrimination Law in an Employment Context: recent developments, likely future directions and the lessons from the past

To some of you the role of The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) in the industrial relations scene in Australia will be well known, others of you may be wondering why a representative of a human rights body would be speaking on this occasion. I propose therefore to briefly summarise HREOC's role in the administration of federal anti-discrimination law, including its complaint handling function, and to give some recent statistics.

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

2009 Speech: Bilingual Education

Good morning friends, supporters, Dr’s Peter Toyne and Lester-Irabinna Rigney and distinguished guests. I would also like to acknowledge my Indigenous sisters and brothers who have travelled here to be with us and to share your experiences and stories.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Creating Fairness and Equality in the Workplace

It is now 12 months since the introduction of WorkChoices radically restructured Australia’s industrial relations system. Today, I propose to reflect on the implications of WorkChoices for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and to outline reforms HREOC believes are necessary to safeguard fairness and equality in the workplace.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Accumulating poverty: Women’s experiences of inequality over the lifecycle (2009)

My father first took me to the Institute of Public Affairs as it was then known, before Anne and Gerard Henderson revolutionised it as the Sydney Institute. I remember the topic was “Should Australia have an Aircraft Carrier?” I sat next to an English engineer who was on the first nuclear submarine. He spend 4 months submerged near the Russian base of Murmansk. There was absolute radio silence and he didn’t learn of the birth of his daughter until he returned to England many months later.

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

USING THE LAW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE Graeme Innes AM (2007)

Scarlett Finney was only six when she saw the brochures for the Hills Grammar School, set in park-like grounds in Sydney's outer suburbs. She indicated her keenness to attend "the school in the bush". Her parents were prepared to pay the fees, and saw the setting and curriculum as providing her with a great education. But the school refused her enrolment due to the fact that she had spina bifida, and sometimes used a wheelchair [1].

Category, Speech

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