It was a pleasure to take part with Associate Professor Christine Inglis and Leticia Anderson at the Sydney University Election Nerds Show about multicultural Australia. Thank you to Dr Peter John Chen of the Department of Government in International Relations for organising it.
The Multiculturalism Show is available online and via itunes – http://www.electionnerds.info/
On 8 November 2016, pursuant to section 7(c) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the Attorney-General referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights the following matters for inquiry and report:
My submission to the parliamentary inquiry into freedom of speech in Australia has been published on the inquiry website of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.
To view it, please refer to the list of submissions on the inquiry website at:
On 10 October 2016, to commemorate the fifties anniversary of Australia becoming a signatory to one of the world’s most profound declarations on human rights — the United Nations’ International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull moved a motion in Parliament to reaffirm Australia’s commitment to equality of rights for all and non-discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, creed or origin. The motion was supported by the Leader of the opposition and accepted by acclamation.
The motion stated:
The Prime Minister’s speech could be read on: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2016-10-10/racial-tolerance-motion-address-parliament
On 16 August 2016 in the afternoon (Polish time) I gave an interview about the situation in Nauru to Ms Agnieszce Lichnerowicz, journalist working in Warsaw for radio TOK FM – program SWIATOPODGLAD.
The interview is titled “Incydenty w obozie dla uchodzcow na wyspie Nauru” and could be found on page 16 in the Radio TOK FM archives in Radio at: http:/audycje.tokfm.pl/odcinek
“Hard to Believe” – I strongly encourage you to see this film
1999, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Communist Party of China started; the state organised prosecution that has all the hallmarks of genocide.
The issue of immigration and current refugee refugee crisis are of major interest to many Europeans. Attached is an interview Dr Ozdowski gave recently to Mr Marek Ostrowski, Editor in Chief of Polish Weekly Magazine “Polityka”, about Australian immigration system, refugee intake and multiculturalism.
Please join me for the next Western Sydney Open Forum for 2016, titled ‘Insurance, Genetic Testing and Discrimination’.
The guest speaker on the night will be Justice Christian Byk of French Commission for UNESCO.
The forum will be held on Wednesday, 20 July 2016 at the at Western Sydney University Parramatta South campus, Female Orphan School, Building EZ, with refreshments at 5:30 for a 6:00pm start.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could distribute this invitation through your networks.
Today I have attended an excellent 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning play “Disgraced” performed at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta and chaired a discussion after watching it. The play was directed by Sarah Goodes, director at a Sydney Theatre Company.
When I arrived in Australia in 1975, Prof Alice Tay told me that in Australia polite dinner conversation should not touch the topics of politics, religion and sex. This was very different to my cultural background – about politics we spoke constantly and about religion and sex from time to time.
The play broke down all the wisdoms I was told by Alice and the established dinner conversation taboos. In fact, veneers of civility are being ripped away in a discussion on religion, politics and sex between characters from different cultural and religious backgrounds. There is a clear “clash of civilisations” taking place.
The play is relevant to those interested in contemporary Australian multiculturalism and islamophobia. The play is about a conversation we need to have! Recommended viewing.
Orlando has witnessed a worst mass shooting in the US history – murder inspired by gay hate and terror. I write to express my feelings of deepest sympathy to the victims of this horrible crime, their families and friends and to the world-wide LGBTIQ community.
This terrible incident is a stark reminder of why it is important to demonstrable our determined stand against homophobia and transphobia in our workplaces and in public life on a daily basis. There is so much to be done!
I am proud to be working at the Western Sydney University which encourages all our staff and students to actively work to combat homophobia and to provide active support to our GLBTIQ community through the Western’s Ally Network. An Ally is a volunteer (staff or student) from the Western Sydney University community who is committed to cultural change and provides support to LGBTIQ community members at the University.
An inaugural conference about Ally networks at Australian universities will be held at Parramatta on 27-28 June – for more see: http://allynetwork.com.au
