Title
Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissionaire from 2005 to 2014 & prominent Disability Rights Advocate
Company

Bio
Dr Graeme Innes AM was Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissionaire from 2005 to 2014. 

Graeme, Member of the Order of Australia (AM) is a lawyer, mediator and company director. He has been a human rights practitioner for more than thirty years, and is an informative and entertaining conference presenter.

Graeme was a Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission for almost nine years, responsible for issues relating to disability, race and human rights. In this role he led work on:

• The ratification by Australia of a UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities;
• The Same Sex Same Entitlements inquiry;
• Regulations in the areas of accessible buildings and transport;
• Work with industry on TV and movie captions and accessible banking standards;
• And three inspections of Australia's immigration detention centres.

Graeme led the merger of four blindness agencies to form Vision Australia, and chaired the board of that agency. He is currently the chair of the Attitude Australia Foundation, a start-up aimed at using media to change attitudes towards Australians with disabilities. He is also a board member of Life Without Barriers, a $300 million dollar turn-over Not For Profit organisation providing support to people with disabilities, Aboriginal people, asylum seekers and children in out-of-home care; and Livable Housing Australia, an initiative of the disability sector and the property industry to ensure that new houses in Australia are designed and built to meet the needs of all Australians.

Graeme was awarded an AM for his work on the development of the Disability Discrimination Act, and was a finalist for Australian of the Year. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Canberra in recognition of his work as a human rights activist.

Graeme is married with two children, loves cricket as a spectator and sailing as a participant, and relaxes by enjoying fine Australian white wine.