Skip to main content

Browse News

Race Discrimination

Australia needs a National Anti-Racism Framework

Speech by the National Race Discrimination Commissioner, Chin Tan, ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Hello everyone, wherever you are in Australia. I join you from the lands of the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

‘Free and Equal’: Making Human Rights Education a Priority

National FutureSchools Expo and Conferences 21 March 2019, Melbourne Introduction I pay my respects to the Wurudjeri peoples of the Kulin nation who are the traditional custodians of this land—to their elders, past and present, and to the future generations, the children and young people that look...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Race Discrimination Commissioner, Mr Chin Tan, on Nelson Mandela Day

Thank you for the very kind welcome. May I extend particular thanks to the Nelson Mandela Day Commemorative Committee (NMDCC) for the invitation and for having me here this evening. Let me start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land where we gather tonight, the Wurundjeri people...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

National Consultations with Australian Muslims

The Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan will today announce a series of national consultations with the Muslim community in Australia about their experiences of hate speech and violence and about their ideas for change. Commissioner Tan will make the announcement at a Harmony Day Event in...

Category, News
Race Discrimination

Australian leadership falls short on cultural diversity

Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane has revisited his Leading for Change (2016) report and found a persistent lack of cultural diversity among leaders in business, politics, government and universities. On 11 April 2018, the Commissioner launches new research that establishes Anglo...

Category, News
Rights and Freedoms

Religion and Human Rights in Modern Australia: Friends, Foes or Ships in the Night?

Western Sydney Open Forum CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Acknowledgements • Traditional Aboriginal owners: the Darug Nation • Dr Sev Ozdowski AM If you’ve read the papers or seen the news in the last few weeks, you might be forgiven for thinking that human rights are somehow radically incompatible with...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Religion and Rights in a Diverse, Multicultural Community

Lecture Theatre 9, University of Tasmania, Newnham Campus, Newnham Drive, Launceston CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Acknowledgements Traditional owners: Panninher and the Leterrermairrener People. Moderator: Professor Richard Eccleston, Director of the Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Victorian Parliament Iftar Dinner

Remarks of Edward Santow, Human Rights Commissioner to the 12th Annual Victorian Parliament Iftar Dinner CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Acknowledgements Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation; Ahmet Keskin, Executive Director, Australian Intercultural Society; Sarah Abo, SBS World News, for that kind...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

The lion and the lamb: freedom of religion in multicultural Australia

The lion and the lamb: freedom of religion in multicultural Australia Affinity Intercultural Foundation: Lunchtime Lecture Series CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Introduction Acknowledgements Gadigal people of the Eora nation; Ahmet Polat. The Hon Ray Williams MP (NSW Minister for Multiculturalism, and...

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
Rights and Freedoms

Access and equity: human rights in practice

Speech to SydWest Multicultural Services AGM Edward Santow – speaking notes – CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Acknowledgements: the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land, the Darug people Dr Chandrika Subramaniyan (Chair, SydWest Multicultural Services) Elfa Moraitakis (CEO, SydWest) Introduction...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Graduation speech: Knowing thyself – University of Sydney

Graduands, my warmest congratulations. It may be Friday the 13th, but this is clearly an auspicious day. I am honoured to be celebrating this occasion with you. It gives me special pleasure to be with you as an alumnus of the Department. There is a special bond among Sydney’s graduates of Government...

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
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

Another 'aberration' shows that 18C is the problem and must be changed

State and federal governments should reform laws that make offensive acts unlawful and refocus them on protecting free speech and stopping workplace and public harassment. This week a news story broke about a complaint made under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by a Queensland University...

Category, Opinion

Follow us on social media

We engage in social media to promote discussion and debate on human rights issues.

Media centre

Visit our media centre for up to date contact details for all media enquiries.

Learn More