Human rights lawyer Rosemary Kayess has been appointed Australia's next disability discrimination commissioner. The commissioner's role is to protect the rights of people with disability and promotes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said Ms Kayess' five‑year full-time appointment would start on January 29. "Ms Kayess is an accomplished human rights lawyer, academic and practitioner with an expert understanding of Australian anti-discrimination law and international human rights frameworks," Mr Dreyfus said in a statement.
The new commissioner is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales and vice-chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
She was also an expert member with the disability royal commission, in which she called for a whole-of-government approach to human rights and a stronger voice for people with disabilities.
"Until that is recognised, people with disability will continue to be … confined to systems and specialised care and protection, which actually through this process has created their vulnerability and heightened their risk - some might say exponentially," she told the inquiry.
