Graham Innes

Graeme Innes has been a Human Rights Practitioner in New South Wales (NSW) and across Australia for 25 years, and active in the disability field for thirty years.

He is a Human Rights Commissioner, responsible for Disability Discrimination, with the Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

A lawyer, mediator and company director, Graeme was a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations developing a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. He was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia for four and a half years.

He was the first blind President of Royal Blind Society of NSW, and the first Chair of Vision Australia, Australia's largest national blindness agency.  Graeme has been one of Australia's delegates to the World Blind Union, and the President of that Union's Asia-Pacific region.

Graeme has been a consultant to organisations such as Westpac, Qantas, and Sydney Water, on disability issues.

Graeme has been a Member of -

• the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal,
• the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal,
• the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, and a 
• Hearing Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

He has also been a Councilor on Ku-ring-gai local Council.

In 1995 Graeme was admitted as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to the development of Commonwealth disability discrimination legislation. He was a finalist for Australian of the year in 2003.

Graeme is married with an adult son and a daughter in primary school.  He enjoys cricket (as a spectator) and sailing (as a participant) and relaxes by drinking fine Australian white wine.