Our Speaker
Leader of the Human Rights Act for Queensland Campaign & CEO of QCOSS
Aimee McVeigh
This year our speaker for our flagship lecture will be Aimee McVeigh, the successful leader of the Human Rights Act for Queensland campaign.
Aimee has had a long and storied career practicing in law, with a particular focus on human rights and discrimination, guardianship, estate planning, child protection and domestic violence. She has worked in various senior and advisory roles, including at the Disability Royal Commission, Disability Law Queensland and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Legal and Advocacy Service, as well as having been engaged by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples as a gender advisor, and working with a number of non-profit organisations in Queensland, including
during the Child Abuse Royal Commission.
Aimee holds qualifications in Communications and Law, including a Master of Laws (International and Public Law) from the University of Melbourne. She has been nominated as a finalist for the 2017 Australian of the Year awards and the 2019 Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights Medal.
As CEO of the Queensland Council of Social Services (QCOSS), the peak body for the social service sector in Queensland, Aimee continues to be a strong advocate for equality, opportunity and wellbeing for all Queenslanders.
Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of Queenslands leading human rights champions!
This Year’s Event
This year's event will be held at 330 Ann Street and will include a seminar from our speaker, together with an opportunity for questions and discussion. A small selection of canapes will be available.
Tickets for Members are $20, and tickets for non-members $25. We are also offering 1 year of individual membership plus attendance for $50.
As part of our commitment to accessibility this event will also be live-streamed at no cost for those unable to attend in person.
If you wish to attend the live-stream, please register your interest by selecting an ‘online only’ ticket and a link will be sent to you. We encourage those who are able to donate to help us cover the cost of maintaining the live-stream.
About the Annual Derek Fielding Memorial Lecture
Fred Derek Osmond Fielding AM (14 August 1929 – 25 June 2014) was an Australian librarian and author. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Fielding emigrated to New Zealand in 1958. In 1961, he took up the position of Librarian at the James Forsyth University Library at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, where, under his stewardship, the collection grew from 360,000 books to 1.5 million volumes.
He oversaw the building of three new library buildings in 1974, 1976 and 1990 as well as the establishment of the clinical library at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. A strong believer in civil liberties and social issues from his youth, he was committed to ensuring that the censorship of libraries, both academic and public, was discouraged. These efforts took on particular significance during the Premiership of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen when library funding in Queensland paled in comparison to other Australian States and Territories. He chaired the Library Association of Australia's Freedom to Read Committee from 1969-1974 and was President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties. His diplomatic efforts led to the University of Queensland permitting student protests on campus, including the all night sit-in in the Walter Harrison Law Library. He was also an observer for the QCCL during the 1971 Springboks Rugby Tour during apartheid protests. In 1996, he was made a member of the Order of Australia in recognition of service to higher education and librarianship, in particular through the University of Queensland and the Australian Advisory Council on Binliographical Services.
Since 2015, the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has hosted an annual lecture in Derek’s honour.