News

Commission – General

National Legal Aid Best practice Conference

I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna People, the traditional owners of the land on which we stand and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

Commission – General

Site navigation

I am very grateful for this opportunity to address this speech night. 1998 is an historic year. Not only does it mark the 130th anniversary of Brisbane Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Brisbane, it also marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are both significant anniversaries and they are tied together by the importance they place on the role of education to inform, instruct and inspire.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2010)

Firstly, let me begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. You always have been and always will be the traditional owners of this land where we meet today.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous Rights and the debate over a Charter of Rights in Australia

My thanks to the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, in particular to Phil Lynch, for inviting me to address this important gathering of human rights advocates and supporters about what I consider vital for the implementation and promotion of human rights in Australia.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia

Improving the health status of Indigenous peoples1 in Australia is a longstanding challenge for governments in Australia. The gap in health status between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians remains unacceptably wide.2 It has been identified as a human rights concern by United Nations committees3; and acknowledged as such by Australian governments4.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Indigenous peoples and the right to self-determination

I pay my respects to the Gadigal as a Kungarakan man whose traditional country lies far north from here, up near Darwin. I recognise the relationship of the Gadigal to this land and their ongoing responsibilities to it, under the watch of their ancestors. In other words, I recognise the ongoing dimensions of the sovereignty of the Gadigal to this country.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Statement on Mandatory Sentencing

For Australia's Indigenous communities and those associated with us, the death in custody of the young Aboriginal boy last week is nothing new. Lamentably, it is nothing new.

Disability Rights

Risky Business?

I make this acknowledgment in all my public presentations, because recognising the indigenous history of this land is an important element in recognising the truth of our diversity as a people.

Disability Rights

Keynote address: Creating Welcoming School Communities (2009)

26 years ago, on this day in 1973, the first call was made on a mobile phone other than a car phone, when Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive shocked New Yorkers by walking down the street talking into a shoe-shaped handset. We've moved a long way since then, when there are more mobile phones in Australia than people, and phone calls are just one of the many things that they now do.

Disability Rights

Disability and information technology

I also want to thank and congratulate the organisers of today's workshop, in particular Dr Gerard Goggin from the University of Sydney , Dr Chris Newell from the University of Tasmania and Philip French from the Disability Studies and Research Institute.

Disability Rights

Launch of WorkCover South Australia Disability Action Plan

I am very happy to be here today. Not just because South Australia was my home for some years, as many of you know, but to recognise initiatives here in social justice and access for people with disabilities. There is a tradition here of innovative action for disability rights.

Disability Rights

Hastings: Finding Your Own Shape

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

Making change happen: The media and violence against women

Let me begin by acknowledging the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, the traditional owners of the land on which we are now gathered. I pay my respects to your elders, past and present, and all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and men who work tirelessly to eliminate violence against women.

Sex Discrimination

Speech - Who cares? Managing flexibility in the workplace

I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered here today on the traditional land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I pay my deepest respects to their elders past and present.

Sex Discrimination

The Work/Family Debate: Working for or against Gender Equality?: Pru Goward (2005)

The Work/Family Debate: Working for or against Gender Equality? Speech by Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Fabian Society, New International Bookshop, Carlton VIC, Wednesday 30 March 2005. Acknowledgements. Like any advocate, once I become convinced of a position I am unable to...