Speeches

RCOA speeches | Kenneth Rivett memorial events | Other speeches on refugee issues

RCOA speeches

The following are speeches given at events organised by RCOA or speeches given by RCOA representatives at other events.

2011 FECCA Conference

Address by Paul Power, CEO of RCOA, at the 2011 FECCA Conference, 18 November 2011.

Refugee Week 2011

Address by Gracia Ngoy, former refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the NSW Refugee Week Launch, Pitt Street Uniting Church, 18 June 2011. This speech was adapted from an article originally published in Australian Mosaic, the magazine of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (www.fecca.org.au).

Refugee Week 2010

Address by the Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister of Australia, at the Victoria Refugee Week launch, Victorian Parliament House, 21 June 2010.

Address by John Gibson, President of RCOA, at the Victoria Refugee Week launch, Victorian Parliament House, 21 June 2010.

Address by Paul Power, CEO of RCOA, at a Refugee Week celebration hosted by SydWest Multicultural Services, held at Blacktown City Library, 20 June 2010.

Keynote speech by the The Hon John Hatzistergos MLC, NSW Minister for Citizenship and NSW Attorney-General, for NSW Refugee Week launch, Pitt Street Uniting Church, 19 June 2010.

2010 Racism Revisited Conference

"Australian Attitudes to the Acceptance of Refugees" - Summary of speech given by Paul Power, CEO of RCOA, at the Racism Revisited: Anti Anti-racism Leadership and Practice Conference Murdoch University, Perth, 20 March 2010.

2009 FECCA Congress

Address by John Gibson, President of RCOA, at the FECCA Congress, 29 October 2009.

2009 ALP Conference Fringe Event

Address by Paul Power, CEO of RCOA, at "Which Way Forward? Refugees, Security and the Asia-Pacific" seminar, 31 July 2009.

Refugee Week 2009

Address by John Gibson, President of RCOA, at NSW launch of Refugee Week 15 June 2009.

Address by Yasmeen Fatimah, member of the Rohingya community in Sydney, at the NSW launch of Refugee Week 2009, 15 June 2009.

2008 RCOA Annual General Meeting

Address by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, at RCOA AGM, Parramatta NSW, November 2008

Refugee Week 2008

Address by Les Murray, sports broadcaster and former refugee, at the NSW launch of Refugee Week 2008

Refugee Week 2006

Address by Julian Burnside QC at Victorian launch of Refugee Week 2006

Address by Councillor Clover Moore MP, Lord Mayor of Sydney, at NSW launch of Refugee Week 2006

Kenneth Rivett memorial events

Dr Kenneth Rivett was a founding member of RCOA and the principal benefactor to the Australian Refugee Foundation. RCOA has held several events to honour his lifetime commitment to refugees and social justice.

2011 Kenneth Rivett memorial event: Personal Stories from six decades of refugee protection

The following speeches were delivered at a memorial event held during the 2011 Refugee Conference at the University of New South Wales.

Address by Mr Andrew Havas, former refugee from Hungary

Address by Ms Natalie Lobastov, former refugee from Russia

Address by Ms My-Yen Tran, former refugee from Vietnam

Address by Ms Nazifa Ali, former refugee , from Afghanistan

Address by Mr Atem Atem, former refugee from Sudan

2005 Kenneth Rivett orations

In 2005 RCOA, in cooperation with Sydney University Law School, proudly sponsored the inaugural Kenneth Rivett Orations. These were delivered in three cities by one of the world's leading scholars in Refugee Law, Dr Guy S Goodwin-Gill.

Dr Goodwin-Gill is a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College at the University of Oxford. He was previously the Professor of International Refugee Law at Oxford, the Professor of Asylum Law at the University of Amsterdam, and worked for over a decade for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He is the author of the premier refugee law text, The Refugee in International Law, and was the founding editor of the International Journal of Refugee Law.

Dr Guy Goodwin-Gill delivered a series of thematically linked orations on the topic: International Refugee Protection: A Work in Progress. You can read the orations here.

Other speeches on refugee issues

The Cranlana Program

Lecture by Mr Petro Georgiou MP, Member for Kooyong, for The Cranlana Programme, 14 April 2010