Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
We're here today for the launch of two reports: a report on social justice and another report on native title. These reports are to be launched by their author, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Social Justice Commissioner, Dr William Jonas.
Disability Rights
Take a piece of canvas, some chicken wire, paint and plastic, and put them together so that they resemble a potato cooked in its jacket. Mount the whole thing on a block of wood, add a label that says "baked potato with butter" and what have you got? You've got a famous example of Pop Art. The collector who bought it is alleged to have remarked, "pop is the art of today, tomorrow and all the future". Human nature being what it is, I imagine they said much the same thing after they'd put the final touches to those prehistoric cave paintings.
Disability Rights
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the launch of the report of the national inquiry into the human rights of people with mental illness. This report is the result of extensive research; public hearings in all States and Territories; and oral evidence and written submissions from over 1300 witnesses. I have been extremely fortunate to have the assistance of two commissioners with a long standing interest in the area of mental health - Dame Margaret Guilfoyle and Mr David Hall.
Disability Rights
Summary: Australia’s National Disability Strategy provides a framework for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons and for means for enhancing reporting under the Convention. Further development and implementation of the NDS should be informed by the Committee’s reporting guidelines and by the dialogue between the Australian Government and the Committee in considering Australia’s reports. Some enhancements to the reporting guidelines may also be helpful.
Disability Rights
I'd also like to acknowledge, as I have done at similar conferences previously, what I have owed personally to people in education in NSW. Education with the support of many great education professionals together with support from family and friends to achieve my goals is why I am in the position I hold now. I compare that to the position of many blind and vision impaired people, facing over 80 per cent rates of unemployment or underemployment.
Disability Rights
Thank you especially to Margaret Ward, the previous National Convenor of the network and Amelia Starr the current Convenor for the excellent debate you have nurtured over the past few years between Government, the housing industry and the community.
Disability Rights
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we stand, the Eora People, and pay my respects to their elders both past and present, and in particular, Aunty Gloria.
Disability Rights
Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney, Australia
Disability Rights
I want to talk today about the relationship between the lofty principles of international law on human rights and the practical realities for people with a disability in Australia.
Disability Rights
I am delighted to have been invited to speak to you tonight on the Eve of International Women's Day, as so many of you are at the eve of being women yourselves, whether international or not. I can tell you, from my own experience, that being a woman kind of creeps up on you: one minute you're a girl, or an adolescent (whatever that may really be), and the next you are a woman!
Sex Discrimination
Violence against women is never easy to talk about. But, if we are to succeed in our efforts to eliminate it, we cannot be afraid to address this issue openly and honestly. We must name the problem, identify its causes, and ensure effective state action.
Sex Discrimination
The debate about balancing work and family life goes beyond parental caring for children. In light of our ageing population, care for older family members and family members with an illness or disability is the next frontier in the work and family debate. Seen in the context of caring for family members across the lifecycle, the work and family ‘barbeque stopper’ emerges as a policy issue with far-reaching demographic, social and economic implications.
Sex Discrimination
Learn about a speech by former Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward on the choices and challenges facing 21st-century women.
Sex Discrimination
The submission by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) to the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education Committee Inquiry regarding the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (More Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 1999 focuses on areas of specific concern to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. The submission does not comment on the legislative scheme as a whole but rather on how the legislative framework proposed by the Government might operate to minimise potentially discriminatory impacts.
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