Graeme Gordon Innes AM (born 9 August 1955) is a lawyer, mediator and company director, university chancellor and was Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner from December 2005 to July 2014. As a human rights advocate for the past 30 years he has played a role in many human rights and disability initiatives, including the drafting of the United Nations

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, ...

. In 2013, Innes won a case against

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

, which was found to have discriminated against blind and visually impaired passengers. Innes was admitted as a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 1995 in recognition of his human rights work and his contribution to the rights of people with disability in Australia.

Early life and education

Innes was born in Sydney, Australia. The son of Alwyn and Dorothy Innes, he has an older sister and younger brother. Alwyn Innes had been a councillor on Ashfield Municipal Council. Due to congenital issues, Innes was born totally blind. His parents were shocked by the news of his disability but endeavoured to treat him in the same way as his siblings. Innes believes this approach benefitted him in life. At age four, Innes and his family moved to a residence in the grounds of the Masonic Hospital (now the Sydney Private Hospital) in Ashfield, when Innes’ father Alwyn was appointed its CEO. Innes grew up there. Innes attended the North Rocks School for Blind Children, run by the New South Wales Department of Education on a site owned by the

Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. He was made school captain in 1971 in early recognition of his leadership capacities. He was thereafter one of the first blind children integrated into the mainstream school system, attending

Ashfield Boys High School Ashfield Boys High School is a government-funded comprehensive single-sex secondary school for boys, located on Liverpool Road, in Ashfield, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1962, the school e ...

for Years 11 and 12 in 1972–73. He was a prefect at this school, and a member of the 1972 debating team that won many competitions. He then undertook law studies at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, where he graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1978, and gained the foundation for his later specialisation in

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

and

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

law.

Career

Early career

After completing practical legal training at the College of Law in 1978, Innes applied for about 30 jobs, but many employers did not understand how a blind person could work as a lawyer. He gained a position as a clerical assistant with the NSW Public Service, and two years later became a legal officer at the Department of Consumer Affairs. He became a conciliator in 1983, first at the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board and then at the WA Equal Opportunity Commission. Innes worked for

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

(1993–1995), initially managing its Disability Services Project, and then fulfilling the role of the company’s Equal Employment Opportunity Officer. He then moved to

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...

, where he was Manager of Disability Projects (1995–1997). He was a Hearing Commissioner with the

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

(1994–2001). In this role, he heard the cases of Finney v Hills Grammar School, and Purvis v NSW Department of Education, which resulted in the landmark decisions that the schools in question had discriminated against a child on the basis of their disability (either refusing enrolment, or excluding the child) in breach of the

Disability Discrimination Act 1992 The ''Disability Discrimination Act 1992'' (Cth) is an Act passed by the Parliament of Australia in which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, education, publicly available premises, provision of goods and se ...

. Innes then became the Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

from 1999–2005. As a tribunal member, he maintained a high resolution rate of complaints using conciliation for tribunals including the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal (1996–2005); the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (1996–2005); and the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. Throughout his early career, Innes held leadership positions in disability advocacy organisations. He was the first Chair of Disabled Peoples International (Australia) which became

People with Disability Australia People with Disability Australia Ltd (PWDA) is a national Australian disability rights and advocacy organisation founded in 1980 and based in Surry Hills, New South Wales. PWDA is a Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO), with an elected board o ...

(1983–1987), and Chair of Royal Blind Society (1995–2004) and was the first Chair of Australia's national blindness agency,

Vision Australia Vision Australia is a not-for-profit organisation and Australia's largest provider of services for people with blindness and low vision. Background Vision Australia was created in 2004 through the merger of 4 smaller blindness organisations: t ...

(2004–2005). He was the Chair of the Commonwealth Disability Advisory Council of Australia 1989–1993, which achieved passage by government of the

Disability Discrimination Act In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a number of countries have passed laws aimed at reducing discrimination against people with disabilities. These laws have begun to appear as the notion of civil rights has become more influential globally ...

in 1992, and which developed a plan to improve transport accessibility (which later became the Accessible Transport Standards ). He was also Deputy Chair of the Australian Disability Consultative Council This council was replaced by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council, which has is now replaced with Disability and Carers Industry Advisory Council 1995–1996, and Chair of

World Blind Union The World Blind Union (WBU) is an international organization representing the estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide who are blind or partially sighted. It consists of other organizations, not individuals. History, scope, and organization The Wor ...

(Asia Pacific Region) 2002–2005. He has been a board member of the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre; Life Without Barriers;, Livable Housing Australia and is a board member of disability employment service, Joblife Employment.

Later career

Innes was appointed Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner in December 2005. During that time, he also served as Australia's Human Rights Commissioner (2005–2009) and as Race Discrimination Commissioner (2009–2011). As Commissioner, Innes contributed to human rights reform initiatives. He participated in the drafting of the United Nations

and its ratification by Australia. He also played an instrumental role in the Same Sex: Same Entitlements enquiry, which resulted in the removal of discrimination across Australian federal law. Innes also contributed to the development of the National Disability Strategy and the Disability (Access to Premises – buildings) Standards 2010, as well as to the establishment of Livable Housing Australia. In his role as Human Rights Commissioner, he undertook three annual inspections of Australia’s Immigration Detention facilities. As a human rights advocate, in his personal capacity as well as professionally, Innes has achieved a number of reforms for people with disability. In 2013 acting in a personal capacity, he won a case in the Federal Magistrates Court against

(which delivers train services in NSW). The magistrate found RailCorp had discriminated against blind and visually impaired passengers by refusing to commit to a program of improving station announcements on Sydney trains so that passengers would know where to get off. Innes won the case and $10,000 damages, after RailCorp spent more than $400,000 on its unsuccessful defence. Also in 2013, Innes initiated an online petition calling on department store

Myer Myer (stylised MYER, sometimes known as Myers) is an Australia, Australian mid-range to upscale department store chain. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of ...

to increase its employment of people with disability to 10 per cent of its workforce. This action was in response to a negative statement by Myer’s CEO about the

National Disability Insurance Scheme The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds costs associated with disability. The scheme was legislated in 2013 and went into full operation in 2020. The scheme is administered by the Na ...

. Innes’ petition gained 35,000 signatures within a few days. Innes has been an active advocate for the implementation of cinema captioning and audio descriptions in Australia. He is known for his speeches, and his erudite opinion pieces published in mainstream Australian media. He embraces communications technologies and platforms, and is a regular user of

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

for timely media commentary. In December 2022, Innes was installed as the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Central Queensland University Central Queensland University (alternatively known as CQUniversity) is an Australian public university based in central Queensland. CQUniversity is the only Australian university with a campus presence in every mainland state. Its main campus ...

. He is the first university chancellor in Australia to identify as having a disability.

Notable achievements

* Passing of the

* Passing of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities * Passing of the UN Optional Protocol on Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Honours

Innes was made a Member of the Order of Australia 1995 for service to the community, particularly as an adviser on disability anti-discrimination policy. He was also shortlisted for

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

in 2004. Academic * Fellow,

Australian Institute of Company Directors The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is a non-profit membership organization for directors. The AICD is a founding member of the Global Network of Director Institutes (GNDI). History The origins of the AICD can be traced ba ...

* Adjunct Professor,

* Honorary Doctor of the University,

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. UC ...

, 2014, in recognition of his work as a human rights activist. * Honorary Doctor of Social Sciences,

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

, 2016, in recognition of his national contribution to public service and advocacy of human rights, particularly for people with disabilities. * Honorary Doctorate,

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, 2017 Other awards *Outstanding Supporter Award, 2008 – Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby *Outstanding Service Award, 1976–2005 –

*David Blyth Award, 1999 – Blind Citizens Australia *Civic Medallion, 1992 –

City of Perth A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, Western Australia

Personal life

Innes is married to Maureen Shelley. He has an adult son and daughter. He enjoys cricket and sailing.

References

External links

Opinion pieces published by Australian Human Rights CommissionSpeeches delivered as the Disability Discrimination CommissionerArticles contributed to The PunchTic Talk at The Inclusion ClubTwenty Years: Twenty Stories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, Graeme 1955 births Living people 20th-century Australian lawyers Lawyers from Sydney Australian Christians Australian blind people Australian disability rights activists Australian human rights activists Sydney Law School alumni Fellows of the Australian Institute of Company Directors Members of the Order of Australia