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Rights and Freedoms

Human Rights are not a foreign language

Human Rights are not a foreign language—reflections on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM President, Australian Human Rights Commission [∗] University of Adelaide Faculty of Law Tuesday 4 September 2018 Acknowledgement I would...

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Criminal record discrimination

This article by Commission President Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher was published in the Australian July 4, 2018 I recently provided a report to the Attorney-General about a man who claimed that he had been refused a job because of his criminal record. The criminal record was very serious. ...

Category, Opinion
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

2018 Grace Vaughan Memorial Lecture, University of Western Australia

Acknowledgments Good evening everyone. I would like to acknowledge the Noongar people the custodians of this land, and all their elders, past, present and emerging. Yaningi warangira ngindaji yuwa muwayi ingirranggu, Wurundjeri yani U. Balangarri wadjirragali jarra ningi – gamali ngindaji yau muwayi...

Category, Speech
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Practical Justice Initiative - Indigenous Lecture Series

Practical Justice Initiative Indigenous Lecture Series University of New South Wales June Oscar Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Australian Human Rights Commission Thursday 9 November 2017 Acknowledgements [Introduction in Bunuba] Jalangurru lanygu balanggarri...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

The AHRC and the Racial Discrimination Act: setting the record straight

Federal racial hatred legislation and the complaints-handling processes of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) are currently the subjects of an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee’s ‘Freedom of speech in Australia’ inquiry, due to report by 28...

Category, Opinion
Children's Rights

A life free from violence and fear: a child’s right

2016 International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect Held by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in Calgary, Canada Introduction Good afternoon. It’s a pleasure to be here in Calgary today to speak about the work I have done as Australia’s first National...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Human rights across the Tasman: a widening gulf

I am honoured to have been invited to give this lecture at the Law School of the University of Canterbury, funded by the generosity of the Sir Eric Hotung Fellowship. While I had settled the subject matter of this lecture, I thought it would be helpful to know what other Hotung Fellows had discussed...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Female Genital Mutilation Conference

Check against delivery Female Genital Mutilation Conference A Human Rights Perspective I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and their elders past and present. May I welcome each of you to the Australian Human Rights Commission. Congratulations...

Category, Speech
Legal

Hotung Fellowship Public Lecture 2016

Human rights across the Tasman: a widening gulf. I am honoured to have been invited to give this lecture at the Law School of the University of Canterbury, funded by the generosity of the Sir Eric Hotung Fellowship.

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Logic says Valizadeh shouldn't get a visa

Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh’s freedom of speech won’t be suppressed if the Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, denies him a visa. In the past few days there have been increasing calls on the Federal Government to block so-called ‘neo-masculinist’ Valizadeh from entering Australia. Outraged politicians...

Category, Opinion
Commission – General

The future of human rights in Australia

AHRC Awards 2015 Thank you Craig for your generosity, for the 4th time, in guiding us through the awards. Well done for your very funny and successful Media Circus. Your honours, distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Gadigal...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Why Geert Wilders should be allowed to visit Australia

Our borders should not be used to control access to unpopular ideas, and in the internet age such efforts are futile. According to reports, Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan​ has advised the Prime Minister not to grant a visa to controversial Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, using the...

Category, Opinion
Race Discrimination

Building social cohesion

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Darug people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to elders past and present. I also acknowledge the fine work of the University of Western Sydney, particularly Dr Sev Ozdowski, in putting together this conference. It’s most...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act

In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...

Category, Opinion

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