Alexander (Sandy) Duncanson, a graduate of the School of Law at the University of Tasmania, died in June 2010 at the age of 37, after living with cancer for sixteen years. Strongly influenced by his experience as a law student visiting asylum seekers at Woomera Detention Centre in 2002, Sandy’s professional life was dedicated to advancing social justice. Sandy was widely respected for his work in the community legal and housing sectors, where he acted as an advocate for the vulnerable.
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Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Scholarship
In recognition of Sandy's profound commitment to social justice, in 2011 his friends and family established a fund in his name through the University of Tasmania Foundation. The lecture also coincides with the announcement of the Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Scholarship, which provides funding for a social justice project or activity undertaken by University of Tasmania students and helps ensure that Sandy's commitment and passion for social justice is passed onto future generations.
Contributions can be made as once-off donations or recurring donations at intervals of your choice. All donations are tax deductible. Your donation can be anonymous or named.
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2024 - Unaccompanied: Children homeless alone
Associate Professor Catherine Robinson delivers the Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Lecture, which explores how we might eradicate homelessness for unaccompanied children in Tasmania and beyond.
2023 - Anne Hollonds and Leanne McLean - Do Children Matter in Australia
The real measure of success in society is how well we care for the next generation. Did you know that children in Australia are more likely to live in poverty than adults? Join the conversation with Anne, Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner and Leanne, Tasmania’s Commissioner for Children and Young People as they talk about their work, and the challenges we must overcome to ensure our children have the support they need to lead happier, healthier, and fairer lives.
2022 - Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, Housing and Human Rights: Rights where it matters
Homelessness can happen to anyone. Join President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Croucher, as they explore how a Human Rights Act for Australia could ‘bring this right home’ as part of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s project, Free and Equal: A National Conversation on Human Rights.
2021 - First Dog on the Moon in conversation with the enviro teens - Duty of Care, Duty to Care
Eight teenagers and a nun took the Environment Minister, the Honourable Sussan Ley MP, to court. Join First Dog on the Moon in conversation with the enviro teens to find out what happened next…
Watch now: Isolated from Justice (YouTube)
Award-winning author and former Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani presents the 2020 Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Lecture in conversation with publisher Geordie Williamson.
Behrouz Boochani spent five years imprisoned in the Australian Government's Manus Island offshore detention centre. His stories of surviving physical and mental isolation and uncertainty are a timely source of inspiration, a reminder of our shared humanity, and a call to action.
His book 'No Friend but the Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison', commissioned by Geordie for Pan Macmillan and covertly delivered from Manus via text messages, has been acclaimed as both a literary masterpiece and critical exposure of Australia's treatment of asylum seekers.
Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish-Iranian writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. He was a writer for the Kurdish language magazine Werya; non-resident Visiting Scholar at the Sydney Asia Pacific Migration Centre (SAPMiC), University of Sydney; Honorary Member of PEN International. He is the winner of an Amnesty International Australia 2017 Media Award, the Diaspora Symposium Social Justice Award, the Liberty Victoria 2018 Empty Chair Award and the Anna Politkovskaya Award for Journalism.
Behrouz graduated from Tarbiat Moallem University and Tarbiat Modares University, both in Tehran, and holds a master's degree in political science, political geography and geopolitics. He has been appointed Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of NSW and Visiting Professor at Birkbeck Law School at the University of London.
He publishes regularly with The Guardian, and his writing also features in The Saturday Paper, Huffington Post, New Matilda, The Financial Times and The Sydney Morning Herald. Behrouz is also co-director (with Arash Kamali Sarvestani) of the 2017 feature-length film Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time; and collaborator on Nazanin Sahamizadeh's play Manus.
His book, No Friend But The Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature, the Special Award at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the Australian Book Industry Award for Nonfiction Book of the Year and the National Biography Prize.
Behrouz was a political prisoner incarcerated by the Australian government in Papua New Guinea for almost seven years, and was granted asylum by New Zealand in July of this year.
Geordie Williamson is the publisher of Pan Macmillan's Picador imprint and was the commissioning editor of Behrouz’ book published in 2019. He is the former chief literary critic of the Australian newspaper and his essays and reviews have been appearing in newspapers and magazines here and in the UK for over a decade. In 2011, Geordie won the Pascall Prize for criticism, Australia’s only major national prize awarded for critical writing. His book The Burning Library: Our Great Novelists Lost and Found, explores the lives and work of Australia's greatest authors and is acclaimed as the ‘perfect introduction to Australian literature’.
Watch now: Challenges of Reaching Gender Equality (Livestream)
Elizabeth Broderick has brought together captains of industry, sport, governments and Defence Force chiefs to address gender inequality in Australia and beyond.
As Australia’s longest serving Sex Discrimination Commissioner (2007-2015), Elizabeth worked tirelessly to break down structural and social barriers faced by women and men, and to promote gender equality.
Her review into the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force led to sweeping cultural reforms.
She established and convened the globally recognised ‘Male Champions of Change’ strategy, enlisting a ‘who’s who’ of powerful male leaders to tackle workplace gender inequality. She is a powerful and influential voice in the struggle for gender equality, enlisting both women and men as agents of change.
Elizabeth was appointed by the United Nations in Geneva as a UN Special Rapporteur and Independent Expert on discrimination against women.
In 2016 Elizabeth was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia and was named 2016 NSW Australian of the Year.
She is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and holds Honorary Doctorates of Law from the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and University of Technology Sydney and Honorary Doctorates from Deakin and Edith Cowan and Griffith Universities.
Watch now: Fullness of Life: Building just societies for all people to thrive (Livestream)
Reverend Tim Costello AO is one of Australia’s best known community leaders and a sought after voice on social justice issues, leadership and ethics.
For 13 years until October 2016, Tim was Chief Executive of World Vision Australia, placing the challenges of global poverty on the national agenda. In his current role as Chief Advocate, Tim continues to use his public profile to affect change. In addition Tim is Chair of the Community Council of Australia, and is a member of the following: the Multi Stakeholder Steering Committee of the EU Australia Leadership Forum; Australian National Development Index; Concern Australia Advisory Group and the Campaign for Australian Aid.In 2006
Tim was named Victoria’s Australian of the Year, in June 2005 was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO); in 2004, was named Victorian of the Year; and in 1997 was named as one of Australia’s 100 National Living Treasures
His books include Faith; Hope; Another Way to Love, co-edited with Rod Yule; Streets of Hope: Finding God in St Kilda; Tips from a Travelling Soul Searcher; and Wanna Bet? Winners and Losers in Gambling’s Luck Myth, co-written with Royce Millar.
Rodney Croome is a long-time advocate for the equal rights of LGBTI people. In particular, he led the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in Tasmania and has been at the forefront of the marriage equality debate.
He has been honoured for his work by being named as a Member of the Order of Australia and Tasmanian Australian of the Year in 2015.
Watch now: Seeing the Unseen and Hearing the Unheard (Livestream)
When former Lieutenant-General David Morrison ordered misbehaving troops to ‘get out’ if they couldn’t accept women as equals, his video went viral and he started a cultural shift that has changed Australia’s armed forces forever.
‘I only kicked a stone down the road. It was the actions of others that caused the avalanche.’
These are the modest words of David Morrison AO, as told to the audience of the Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Lecture, of Jane Hutchinson, the 2016 Tasmanian Australian of the Year. During his time as the Chief of Army, David took on a battle for cultural change that led to an unprecedented movement towards gender equality in the armed forces. His life as a leader and as an individual was changed in 2013 when three courageous women came forward to speak with him about their treatment by other officers. His feelings of personal responsibility as custodian of the organisation empowered him to work towards changing the Army culture. Now retired, he is Chair of the Diversity Council Australia and is a passionate advocate for social justice.
Watch now: Family and Gender Violence and the Limits of Law Reform
Family and Gender Violence and the Limits of Law Reform presented by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AM, Governor of Tasmania. Previously a Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania and Director of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AM, was sworn to Office at Government House on Wednesday 10 December 2014 as Tasmania's 28th Governor.
Watch now: Asylum seekers: How did we come to this?
Janet Holmes à Court is owner of the Janet Holmes à Court Collection. She is also Chairman the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. She is a Board Member of the Rio Tinto Community Investment Fund, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), the Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG), and Chamber of Arts and Culture WA. She is a science graduate from the University of Western Australia and taught science for a number of years before working more closely with family business matters. She has won numerous awards recognising her contribution to the community and to business, including a Companion of the Order of Australia.
Professor Gillian Triggs, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission and Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, gave the 2013 lecture on the topic 'Human Rights in Australia – The Role of Public Education and Advocacy.' Two bursaries were awarded in 2013, to Charlotte Hunn and Timothy Woolley.
Watch now: A Common Purpose - Inching the Law towards Justice
The 2012 lecture was delivered by jurist and reformer Associate Professor Andrea Durbach, on the topic 'A Common Purpose – Inching the Law Towards Justice.' Durbach's lecture was followed by a screening of her award-winning film A Common Purpose, and the event included a presentation by the first bursary recipient, Laura Sykes.
The inaugural Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Lecture by the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG was attended by over 700 people, providing an inspiring and compelling vision of the impact and importance of social justice, as well as a moving insight into the life and passion of Sandy Duncanson.