With only a few days to go, the Australian Human Rights Commission is seeking nominations for the annual Business Award sponsored by Audrey Page & Associates.
The Business Award is awarded to a corporation that has made a practical and/or policy commitment to the promotion and advancement of human rights in the Australian community.
The deadline for nominations in all seven categories is this Friday September 11.
“The Business Award provides an opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of individuals and organisations within the private sector who are committed to promoting and enhancing human rights in Australia and leading by example in innovative and ground-breaking ways,” said Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs.
Last year, the Business Award was shared by two winners:
Grace Papers, for its work empowering women to address pregnancy discrimination in the workplace and; KPMG, for its Reconciliation Action Plan, which fosters equal access to employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and provides support for Indigenous business, leadership and human rights.
“KPMG was honoured to be joint-winner of the 2014 Human Rights Business Award, in recognition of our commitment to reconciliation. Winning this award has created a heightened awareness within the firm of our reconciliation activities and has engendered a greater sense of pride in our work.
“We recognise that with this honour comes increased scrutiny to ensure a best practice approach that is grounded in human rights principles. We have therefore looked to see how we can continue to demonstrate leadership and share our story to encourage other businesses to join us on our journey. Importantly, we are working with our Indigenous friends, employees and partners to keep us on track and challenge our thinking,” said Catherine Hunter, Head of Corporate Citizenship at KPMG Australia.
In a further step, KPMG recently acquired human rights consultancy Banarra to focus on human rights risk, ethical sourcing and supply chain management, while continuing their Corporate Citizenship program.
“Since winning the award we have also considered how best to serve not only our communities, but our clients. With human rights issues increasingly converging with business risks, we looked to enhance our service offering to reflect our own values and aspirations regarding human rights.
“We encourage anyone who is paving the way to create a fairer and more equitable society to nominate for a Human Rights Award,” said Ms Hunter.
The other six awards include: the Human Rights Medal, Young People’s Medal, Law Award, Tony Fitzgerald Community Award, Racism. It Stops With Me Award, and the Media Award.
For more information or to nominate visit http://hrawards.humanrights.gov.au
Pictured: Winners of the 2014 Business Award: (Left to Right) Ben and Prue Gilbert from Grace Papers, Catherine Hunter from KPMG with Elizabeth Broderick, former Sex Discrimination Commissioner
